Shawfield Primary School

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

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Mrs Lynn Tarrant Headteacher Shawfield Primary School Winchester Road Ash Surrey GU12 6SX

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 1 February 2018, 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 July 2013.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

You lead Shawfield Primary School with clear determination to continue improving the outcomes of all pupils. You have high aspirations for pupils to achieve well, regardless of their different backgrounds or circumstances. Importantly, with strong support from your deputy headteacher, you track pupils’ progress accurately and scrutinise their achievements closely. This enables you to understand the strengths of your school well, and to identify precisely what could be even better. Leaders use this information to put into place successful plans to improve the school further. With additional strong support from governors, the leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

The positive culture you have created at Shawfield enables pupils to achieve well. Pupils’ behaviour is good, and throughout the school they enjoy learning. They said that lessons usually challenge them, and that teachers support them effectively if they find learning difficult. Pupils also stated that it is a friendly school and that bullying rarely happens. If it does, they know how to deal with it effectively. Pupils said that the ‘write it down’ strategy you have employed to tackle unwanted behaviour, is very successful. Almost all pupils responding to Ofsted’s pupil survey said that staff manage the very rare incidents of bullying well.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Parents and carers value Shawfield greatly. Many commented that teachers ensure that lessons are suitably challenging, and that pupils receive good support if they find learning difficult. One parent’s comment, typical of many, stated, ‘I cannot fault Shawfield at all. I couldn’t ask for a better primary school or a better start to my children’s education.’ Since the last inspection, leaders have tackled well the areas for improvement identified by inspectors. Across the school, learning is pitched appropriately to pupils’ individual needs. Lessons are planned effectively to ensure that pupils make good progress from their starting points. Teachers’ feedback, for instance the clear guidance they provide in lessons, helps pupils improve their work and make good progress. Most pupils’ writing is improving because they are developing their skills and understanding to be able to write across a range of genres and for different

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

purposes. For example, the biographies Year 5 pupils had been writing about Sir Earnest Shackleton were of a particularly high standard.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Most pupils are making good progress across a range of subjects. You have ensured that the school’s curriculum is lively and interesting. As a result, pupils are keen to learn and work hard. However, you have rightly identified that some pupils are not developing their writing skills, at an age-appropriate level, quickly enough. As a result, some pupils’ spelling and their ability to write well need to improve. Additionally, a few children in the early years are not supported effectively enough to develop their emerging mathematical skills. This is likely to reduce their ability to progress rapidly in mathematics in key stage 1.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

You have created a strong ethos of vigilance among staff that keeps pupils safe. All statutory safeguarding practices meet requirements. For example, the school’s single central record demonstrates that all appropriate background checks are carried out effectively on new staff and volunteers. The systems to record any safeguarding concerns are meticulously detailed. They are organised chronologically and enable staff to keep a close watch on any pupil causing concern.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Leaders responsible for safeguarding demonstrate their dogged determination to help vulnerable pupils access the additional care they need. For example, your family link worker shows tenacity when challenging professionals from the local authority to provide a better level of care.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Staff are trained effectively in keeping pupils safe. You provide a suitable range of professional development to ensure that staff know how to identify pupils at risk and the action to take to keep them from harm. For example, recent training has deepened the understanding of all staff about female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation.

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Short inspection of Shawfield Primary School

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. They understand the dangers present when accessing the internet or using social media. Older pupils explained that they would tell a trusted adult immediately if they knew a friend was planning to meet a stranger they had met online. Additionally, they know not to share any information on the internet that might identify who they are.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, we focused on how effectively leaders ensure that key stage 2 pupils achieve well in English. We also scrutinised leaders’ actions to ensure that pupils are well placed to make good progress in mathematics in the early years and key stage 1. Finally, we evaluated leaders’ work in developing pupils’ skills across the wider curriculum.  Pupils read enthusiastically across a range of genres and authors. They stated, ‘We really love our library because it’s packed with terrific books.’ Your far- reaching work to promote reading for pleasure has successfully engaged pupils in reading more frequently. Importantly, pupils said that reading good-quality texts helps them to improve their own writing.  You ensure that most pupils develop the skills to produce lively and interesting writing. For example, in Year 4, pupils were writing about the digestive system, using a range of scientific vocabulary, accurate punctuation and effective

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Inspection findings

paragraphing to bring their writing to life.  However, some pupils still struggle to spell accurately and do not rehearse their skills regularly enough through extended writing tasks. One pupil stated, ‘Sometimes, we’ve barely got started writing, before we have to stop.’ This limits the progress that some pupils currently make in English.  In key stage 1, teachers are successful in embedding pupils’ mathematical skills and challenging those who are most able. For example, teachers use good questioning skills to tease out what pupils do and do not know. They use this information to plan activities that encourage pupils to think more deeply and grapple with increasingly challenging mathematical concepts and ideas.  Some pupils in the early years are not developing a strong enough understanding of basic mathematics. For example, some children were not able to identify simple two-dimensional shapes, or describe the basic characteristics of a square

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Inspection findings

or a triangle. More needs to be achieved to ensure that children in the early years have a secure understanding of this important area of learning.  You provide pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum. For instance, pupils develop their fitness in physical education lessons that keep them active and alert. Year 2 pupils were strengthening their gymnastics skills by practising the three different stages to complete an effective standing jump.  Pupils develop their artistic abilities across the many creative opportunities planned within the curriculum. In Year 4, for example, pupils were studying the art of Giuseppe Arcimboldo and sketched highly effective pictures of fruit, inspired by his paintings. Throughout the school, pupils’ blossoming creative abilities demonstrate that their artistic skills and understanding are developing well over time.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  pupils’ writing and their spelling continue to improve  pupils develop stronger mathematical skills in the early years.

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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

Together with you, I visited lessons across the school. I spoke to pupils and examined work in their exercise books. Meetings were held with senior leaders, including you, the deputy headteacher and the family link worker. I met with four members of the governing body. I took into account 42 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including free-text comments. I also analysed 140 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey and 23 responses to the online staff survey. A range of documents was reviewed, including: the school’s development plan; leaders’ evaluation of the school’s effectiveness; the school’s single central record of recruitment checks made on staff; information about pupils’ achievement; records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance; and minutes of the governing body’s meetings.

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