Camp Primary and Nursery School

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

p.1

Mrs Sharon Barton Headteacher Camp Primary and Nursery School Camp Road St Albans Hertfordshire AL1 5PG

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery 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 2014.

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

Since your appointment in September 2016, you have established a culture of high expectations that is shared by staff and the governing body. You have instilled a love of learning across the school through teaching that is engaging and challenging.

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

You and your senior leaders have an excellent understanding of the school and are focused on supporting staff and pupils in continual improvement. You have accurately identified the areas that need improvement. Together with the whole school community, you are taking actions to address these. This accurate self- evaluation is successfully securing the school’s capacity for further improvement. Parents and carers support your pursuit of excellence for your pupils. One commented: ‘I feel this school has a very strong leadership team, and that this feeds down through the staff, giving them the support they need to teach and provide support to the children under their care.’

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

You were rightly pleased with the most recent outcomes for pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 in the 2017 national tests. These results show that pupils are reaching above-average attainment, with an increasing proportion attaining the higher-than-expected standard. Progress in books indicates that current pupils are on course to exceed these outcomes in 2018. Teachers and teaching assistants work well together to meet the pupils’ needs. Pupils enjoy school and their attendance is high. Parents spoke highly of school leaders and the values staff instil in their children. One parent’s comment – ‘Camp Primary School stands out as a uniquely caring, nurturing school in which differences are celebrated’ – is reflected in the views of many.

p.1

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

Governors work closely with you and provide effective support and challenge. They know what the school does well and which areas require strengthening. They have particular strengths in understanding the school’s assessment information and safeguarding. Governors work effectively with school leaders to ensure that the school’s vision of ‘an environment where children and staff engage in learning with passion and enjoyment, and achieve their full potential’ is realised.

p.2

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

You and your team maintain a high focus on standards through regular monitoring. All teachers review pupils’ progress and liaise effectively with senior staff to implement well-tailored support plans to address misconceptions and underachievement. You work well with the local authority and the local cluster of schools to check standards and the quality of pupils’ work. By balancing well- planned professional development with close monitoring, you are establishing effective processes that have supported above-average standards of attainment and improving progress from pupils.

p.2

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

You have addressed the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. You have recently implemented initiatives to improve the quality of subject leadership within the foundation subjects and governors have been supporting you in this. At present, not all foundation subject leaders are effectively monitoring their subjects. They do not know their areas well enough to be able to coach and mentor colleagues so that they can accelerate pupils’ progress.

p.2

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

The leadership team ensures that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and of high quality. The record of checks on staff meets statutory requirements and is therefore fully compliant. You and your staff, along with the governing body, recognise when pupils and their families need extra support. You keep detailed records of your work in this area, showing your timely responses. Governors routinely monitor the effectiveness of safeguarding and support you well to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

p.2

Short inspection of Camp Primary and Nursery School

Pupils told me that they feel safe at school. They are aware of the different forms of bullying and know how to stay safe when using the internet. Furthermore, pupils and parents believe that bullying is rare but, if it does happen, staff act quickly to sort it out.

p.2

Inspection findings

 My first line of enquiry to establish if the school remains good was to consider how effectively the pupil premium grant is being spent so that disadvantaged pupils make the same progress as their peers. Improvements have been made since the previous inspection. Leaders target each pupil’s individual barriers to learning. For example, therapists are used to support a range of differing needs. Disadvantaged pupils now make good progress in line with their peers and, in some cases, exceed them, for example in reading at key stage 2 in 2017. Furthermore, disadvantaged pupils are also achieving in line with other pupils nationally, especially in mathematics.  Governors have a comprehensive understanding of how well the pupil premium grant is being spent and the school context. They challenge and support leaders in pursuing the school’s ambition for disadvantaged pupils to ‘aspire to greatness’.  I wanted to find out how well leaders have ensured that the quality of work in

p.2

Inspection findings

pupils’ books has improved since the previous inspection. I looked at a wide range of pupils’ workbooks across the curriculum with senior leaders and noted that good progress is being made in English, mathematics and science over time. Consistently high expectations contribute to pupils’ good progress. However, progress within the foundation subjects is not as strong, especially for the most able pupils, because teachers’ expectations of what pupils can do and achieve are not consistently high across the whole curriculum.  During the inspection, I also wanted to investigate how well leaders of the early years are ensuring that more children reach a good level of development than in previous years. Leaders have established an effective cycle of assessments that allows staff to create individual plans for children to enable them to exceed further. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has

p.3

Inspection findings

risen to above the national average in recent years and children have made good progress in the early years from starting points generally lower than those typical for their age.  Leaders of the early years are aware of the need to improve outcomes for boys, especially in writing. Boys’ attainment still lags behind that of girls and leaders have implemented a range of activities to improve boys’ attainment. For example, they have introduced an activity known as ‘busy fingers’ to develop fine motor control.  My final line of enquiry centred on pupils’ attainment by the end of key stage 2. In recent years, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics combined has risen to above the national average. The proportion of pupils achieving higher than the expected standard has also risen and is now also above average. Leaders have implemented a coaching and mentoring approach across key stage 2 that is developing teachers’

p.3

Inspection findings

core skills so that teachers are confident in challenging pupils.  The school is actively involved with the local cluster of schools which provides joint training and moderation activities for teachers. As a result, teachers’ confidence, knowledge, understanding and skills have increased. They are now providing a standard of education that is preparing more pupils to reach the expected standard by the time they leave primary school. Analysis of school assessment information and books shows that a greater proportion of current pupils are working at age-related expectations than in previous years.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 teachers have the same high expectations of pupils in the foundation subjects as they do in English, mathematics and science, so that pupils make strong progress across the curriculum, especially the most able  boys’ attainment is in line with that of girls in the early years through developing the progression of writing skills both in and outside the classroom  all foundation subject leaders have a firm understanding of the strengths and areas for development within their subjects in order to provide coaching and mentoring to colleagues so that pupils make accelerated progress.

p.4

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

p.4

Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I spoke with you and your senior leadership team, three school governors and a representative from the local authority. I spoke to a group of pupils and individual pupils around the school.

p.4

Information about the inspection

We made visits to lessons to observe pupils’ learning and took a learning walk around the school. We also looked at pupils’ books across a range of ages and abilities, as well as information from the school’s assessment system. I scrutinised a range of documentary evidence, which included the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan, current progress information and pupils’ attendance information. I evaluated safeguarding referrals and child protection records, including the single central record. I also looked at the school’s website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

In addition, I took account of 120 responses to the Parent View online survey and free-text comments, as well as 28 responses from school staff to the Ofsted staff questionnaire.

p.4