Welbourne Primary School

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

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Ms Parveen Duggal Headteacher Welbourne Primary School Stainby Road Tottenham London N15 4EA

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 23 January 2018 with Dawn Titus, 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 November 2013.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You provide strong leadership and are ambitious for the school. You are well supported by a team of dedicated and hardworking staff. As a team, you have successfully created a caring and inclusive school. You and governors have a secure understanding of the school and your priorities are clear. You have secured improvements since the last inspection. Pupils are making strong progress in writing and mathematics. You provide a broad and exciting curriculum and as a result, pupils enjoy coming to school. As one pupil commented, ‘This school opens up opportunities for you.’ Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of pupils who attend the school. You have made sure that the school continues to improve, alongside a successful new building programme to accommodate the new pupils.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, the school was asked to improve the quality of teaching further to raise pupils’ attainment. Specifically, you were asked to make sure that the most able pupils are given work that is suitably challenging. You have taken effective action to improve the quality of teaching and increase the challenge for the most able pupils. In some lessons, inspectors observed teachers challenging pupils to think hard and deepen their learning. Your actions have led to improved outcomes in writing and mathematics. Nonetheless, there is still more work to be done to make sure that pupils in key stage 1 deepen their mathematical thinking regularly. Pupils are passionate about their work and can explain the skills they have applied to improve their writing. Older pupils were able to explain how using different connectives, for example, improves their writing. However, you agree that pupils do

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

not apply writing skills consistently well in subjects other than English.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

Additionally, the school was asked to develop the capacity of subject leaders so that they are able to support teachers in improving their practice. As a result of effective training, subject leaders now provide good support for colleagues to continually improve the quality of teaching and refine their skills.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

Pupils are extremely welcoming and polite. They are proud of their school and all that it has to offer. They are excellent ambassadors for Welbourne Primary. Pupils’ conduct around the school, in assemblies and on the playground is impeccable. The school is a harmonious community.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

Governors are supportive of the school. They know that the impact of your work has been effective in improving the quality of teaching and learning. They are well informed and hold you fully to account for your work. Governors have a good understanding of the context of the school and the potential barriers to pupils’ learning.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. You and other senior leaders ensure that a culture of keeping children safe is of paramount importance and everyone’s responsibility. As a result, parents and carers are confident that the school’s work to keep children safe is a strength of the school.

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Short inspection of Welbourne Primary School

The school works extremely well with parents and external agencies when children are deemed to be at risk. Systems to monitor this are robust, effective and organised. Leaders ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe. Pupils know about the different forms of bullying but say that bullying is rare. They are confident that when it does happen, they know what to do and that adults will help them.

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Inspection findings

 Inspectors focused initially on what you and leaders are doing to ensure high- quality teaching and learning in reading in key stage 2. This was because in 2017, the standards achieved in reading at the end of Year 6 were not as strong as in writing and mathematics.  You and other leaders quickly addressed this. There has been a whole-school focus on promoting reading skills and a love of reading through a variety of strategies. As a result, the profile of reading has been greatly enhanced. Pupils confirmed to inspectors that they enjoy reading for pleasure and are excited to share what they are reading. Teachers have improved the range of books used in lessons. You have improved the way in which reading is taught so that a greater emphasis is placed on developing pupils’ comprehension skills. The school’s assessment information shows that pupils’ progress in reading is improving as a result of your actions.

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Inspection findings

 The next line of enquiry focused on evaluating leaders’ actions to ensure that different groups of pupils achieve well throughout the school. We focused particularly on how well leaders are diminishing the differences between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils as well as the differences between boys and girls in reading at key stage 2. We also looked at pupils’ achievements in key stage 1, to see if gaps were closing between disadvantaged and non- disadvantaged pupils in writing and mathematics.  In addition to the new reading initiatives, you have made sure that the assessment system to track pupils’ progress enables you to identify more swiftly those pupils who need additional support. Furthermore, you have introduced new reading books that are more appealing to boys, which has resulted in boys showing a greater interest in reading. This is beginning to improve boys’ progress in reading.

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Inspection findings

 The work in pupils’ books shows that disadvantaged pupils are making at least good progress. This is also reflected in the school’s achievement information. However, there are insufficient opportunities for pupils in key stage 1 to deepen their learning in mathematics. Pupils need more opportunities to consolidate and apply the skills they have learned. Equally, although pupils’ writing skills are promoted successfully in English lessons, pupils do not apply their writing skills consistently well in other subjects.  Finally, inspectors focused on what leaders are doing to promote good attendance. This was because in 2017 attendance declined and the proportion of pupils that were persistently absent from school increased last year.  You and those staff responsible for monitoring attendance know which pupils do not attend school regularly. You ensure that the education welfare officer works with these pupils’ parents when their child’s attendance becomes a cause for

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Inspection findings

concern. In addition, you have many rewards to recognise and promote good attendance, such as termly awards.

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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

 teachers expect pupils to apply writing skills consistently well in all subjects as well as they do in English  teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to deepen their learning and apply mathematical skills in key stage 1. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Haringey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors carried out the following activities:

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Information about the inspection

 a scrutiny of the single central record of recruitment checks and other documents relating to safeguarding and child protection, including the school’s safeguarding policy and other policies relating to governance, pupil behaviour and attendance  meetings with the headteacher other senior leaders, four governors and a local authority representative  a review of the school’s self-evaluation documents and improvement plans, observations of learning across the school, and work analysis of pupils’ writing, mathematics and wider curriculum books  observations of pupils in a range of situations, including at break and lunchtime  conversations with a group of pupils and with pupils in lessons, on the playground and in the dining hall  listening to pupils in Year 2 and Year 6 read  a scrutiny of 38 parent responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well 14 free-text responses from parents.

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