Meadow Primary School

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

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Miss G Jenkins Headteacher Meadow Primary School Sparrow Farm Road Stoneleigh Epsom Surrey KT17 2LW

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 31 January 2018 with Meena Walia, 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 June 2013.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education since the last inspection. You have established a strong team of leaders who are dedicated and strive to ensure that all pupils receive a good quality of education within a safe and stimulating environment. This is reflected in the comment made by one parent who wrote: ‘A truly lovely environment for my children to not only have a great education but to thrive in a safe and caring school.’ You have established a programme of training and support for leaders and teachers at all levels enabling them to build their skills to provide rich learning experiences for pupils. This has helped pupils to learn well and make good progress, particularly in mathematics. In the national test in 2017, pupils’ progress in mathematics was above average at the end of Year 6.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

As a national leader for education, you have provided support to other schools and also have brought back to Meadow Primary School ideas and practices that have enhanced what you already do well. You have taken the opportunity to enable staff to visit other settings. This has widened their horizons and enabled them to reflect on their own practice to help pupils to learn. One teacher wrote: ‘I have worked at the school for several years and have seen the progress the school has made since becoming Meadow Primary. I am proud to be a teacher at Meadow.’ Parents and carers too appreciate the way in which the school strives to become even better. One parent wrote: ‘The leadership team appear to be continuously thinking of ways for the school to progress in a positive way, keeping the children at the heart of any decision.’ Pupils love their school and say there is very little they would like to change. In the

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

pupil survey, the vast majority of pupils say they feel happy and safe in school. They say there is very little bullying and that behaviour in class and around the school is usually very good. Pupils understand that one or two individuals struggle to manage their behaviour but they are confident that adults take rapid action so that learning is not disrupted. Pupils appreciate the wide range of activities that are available to them.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

Pupils say that the curriculum is rich and stimulating and that teachers are always looking for activities that make learning fun and enjoyable. This was seen in the quality of displays in classrooms and around the school showing a vibrant and stimulating curriculum. Pupils particularly enjoy trips and visits that add to their enjoyment of school. During the inspection, pupils in Year 3 spent most of the morning learning about the ancient Greeks through a drama workshop. In addition to enhancing their understanding of life in that time, this also promoted their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding well.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

Pupils of all backgrounds get on well together. They are polite, friendly and helpful and they enjoy talking to visitors about their school. They say there is no discrimination and that they are all treated equally. During lunchtime break, pupils enjoy a variety of physical equipment and activities that help to keep them fit and healthy. In classrooms, pupils behave well and, at times, exceptionally well. They enjoy good working relationships with teachers and they demonstrate very positive attitudes to learning. Pupils are proud of their work and take delight in sharing their success with visitors.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

Since the previous inspection you have introduced a new spelling programme and this has shown gains in the proportion of pupils who achieved and exceeded the expected level in the 2017 grammar, punctuation and spelling test. However, you are disappointed that pupils do not routinely apply this knowledge to their writing, and this is something that you are addressing. One recommendation from the last inspection was to ensure that work is always demanding and closely matched to the needs of pupils of all abilities. In our joint visits to lessons, we saw that teachers provide work at different levels for pupils of different abilities, enabling pupils of all abilities to progress well in most subjects.

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Short inspection of Meadow Primary School

You know that more needs to be done to accelerate boys’ progress in reading and writing. You have introduced a reading programme to help pupils, particularly boys, to increase their attainment and progress in reading. This has stimulated boys’ interest and engagement with reading and is already showing signs of success. You are aware that actions to improve boys’ progress in writing remain at an early stage. Pupils do not always use their knowledge of spelling, grammar and punctuation when writing and there are not enough opportunities for pupils to write at length both in English and in other subjects. There are times when boys do not settle quickly to write because they are not yet confident in some aspects of grammar and so they do not have the confidence to begin to write.

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Safeguarding is effective

You, your staff and governors have created a climate in which pupils’ safety is given high priority. There are four designated safeguarding lead officers who have all had recent training and are well placed to know what to do should a member of staff express a concern that a pupil may be at risk from harm. All staff and governors are trained and they receive regular updates, so they are well prepared to deal with any issues that arise. You have good relationships with external agencies which provide effective support. All adults who visit school are carefully checked and their presence in school is recorded electronically. Rigorous checks are made on the suitability of staff to work with children, and governors are diligent in ensuring that all policies and procedures for safeguarding pupils are fit for purpose.

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Safeguarding is effective

Pupils cite many examples of how the school helps them to keep themselves safe both in school and outside. Through themed assemblies and personal, social and health education (PSHE) education, pupils are taught how to stay safe from risks associated with roads and substances. They are taught about different forms of bullying and what to do should they have a concern. There is also an extensive planned programme of teaching to help pupils to stay safe when using modern technology. Pupils know they should not use technology to make unkind remarks about other pupils and they know they should not provide any personal information when online. Parents, staff, governors and pupils agree or strongly agree that pupils are safe at school.

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Inspection findings

 In addition to evaluating the school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils, we also agreed to evaluate the following: – the effectiveness of the actions taken by school leaders to increase rates of progress and improve boys’ attainment in writing at key stage 2 – how well the most able girls achieve in reading and mathematics at key stage 1 – how well the quality of teaching meets the needs of different groups of pupils and – provision and outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.  You have identified that boys have not progressed as well as girls in writing and have implemented actions to address this. You have reviewed the topics on offer to pupils and introduced ‘boy friendly’ topics such as the Second World War. This has stimulated boys’ interest and provided them with more opportunities to write when learning other subjects. However there are still too few occasions when

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Inspection findings

pupils have time to complete extended pieces of writing and this slows their resilience in completing longer tasks. Although pupils, including boys, attain well in the English, spelling, punctuation and grammar tests, they do not routinely apply their skills when writing and this prevents them from doing as well as they should. The school’s own assessment information shows that there are some remaining inconsistencies in the progress between boys and girls between year groups.  Work in pupils’ books shows that they do not all write neatly and fluently. In some classes, their handwriting is not formed correctly and they have not yet mastered spelling patterns, nor do they use punctuation accurately. Teachers do not consistently comply with the school’s feedback policy in providing guidance to pupils to help them to improve their work. This slows progress, particularly for boys. In some classes, pupils’ basic errors go unchecked and so pupils do not

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Inspection findings

learn from their mistakes.  Although published performance information indicates that the most able girls do not attain as well as they should at the end of key stage 1, evidence from inspection shows that this is not the case. Work in pupils’ books shows that all pupils, including the most able girls, make good progress in writing and mathematics. In class, teachers provide challenging activities that engage all pupils. Teachers routinely provide pupils with extra challenges that pupils select and this helps them to make rapid progress.  During our visits to classrooms, we saw that in most lessons, teachers provide an extra level of challenge for pupils. In some cases, teachers directed pupils to take on the additional challenge. In other classes, pupils decided for themselves whether or not they were ready to try to complete harder work. Where it was needed, teachers provided additional support for less able pupils by providing

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Inspection findings

them with structured ideas to help them to get started. Some pupils, mainly boys, struggled to get started with their work because they were not clear about the meaning of grammatical phrases such as ‘relative clauses’. They had been asked to include these in their writing but not all pupils understood such grammatical terminology. This meant that they could not progress as quickly as they should.  Most teachers used some stimulating and engaging resources to capture the interest of pupils. For example, Year 5 teachers presented a video clip of a rubbish dump and asked pupils to think of some descriptive language. Although most pupils did give some vivid examples, a few pupils demonstrated limited understanding of the effectiveness of their vocabulary choices. In Year 4, pupils made good progress in compressing metaphors to write poems. Feedback provided to pupils was of good quality and helped the pupils to progress well.

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Inspection findings

Teachers discussed with pupils the effectiveness of their vocabulary choices allowing them to understand why some phrases/vocabulary choices are more effective than others.  Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress overall. The inclusion team works in close cooperation with teachers to provide programmes of work that are aimed at addressing pupils’ unique difficulties in accessing the curriculum. These are provided by trained teaching assistants and checked regularly by class teachers and the inclusion leader to ensure that they are effective. There are times when pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities have additional support in classrooms. While this is effective in the majority of cases, there are times when the teaching assistant provides too much support for the pupil and does not give him/her the chance to complete their work independently.  Members of the inclusion team are very aware of the strength of provision for

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Inspection findings

pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, and they know how this provision may be improved. They work in close cooperation with external agencies as well as partner schools to improve upon what they already do very well. They benefit from high-quality training to help them to update their skills so that they can offer the highest quality of support to pupils. As a result, current pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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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 at key stage 2, particularly boys, make at least expected progress in writing by: – ensuring that all pupils fully understand grammatical terminology – making sure that all pupils routinely use their spelling, punctuation and grammar skills when writing, both in English and in other subjects – providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length in English lessons, and when learning other subjects, to build their stamina and resilience for writing – ensuring that all pupils present their work to the highest possible standard and that their handwriting is neatly formed.

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

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Information about the inspection

The inspectors observed pupils working during learning walks which were undertaken jointly with you and your deputy headteacher. We spoke to pupils formally as well as informally in the playground. Meetings were held with school leaders and representatives from the governing body, including the chair of governors. I held a telephone meeting with a representative from the local authority. Among the documents scrutinised were school development plans, teachers’ plans, and information showing how the school’s arrangements for safeguarding pupils are effective. The views of parents were taken into account by analysing 232 responses to the online survey. Inspectors also met with parents informally during the inspection and took account of over 200 written responses to free-text as well as three letters submitted to the inspection team. Inspectors took account of the views of staff by analysing 41 responses to the staff survey.

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