Allfarthing Primary School

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

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Mr Tom Holmes Headteacher Allfarthing Primary School St Ann’s Crescent Wandsworth London SW18 2LR

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Short inspection of Allfarthing Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 14 March 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 November 2013.

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Short inspection of Allfarthing Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. This has been in spite of a significant staff turnover. You have established a new senior leadership team, developing existing staff, and appointing others externally. Changes in the membership of the governing body have further strengthened its ability to challenge and support the school. Its members’ wide range of skills ensures that they work consistently with leaders to improve standards. The vast majority of parents and carers are very supportive of the school. They value its caring ethos. They see that leaders have made changes that have had a positive impact on their children’s learning.

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Short inspection of Allfarthing Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, leaders were asked to refine the skills of phase and subject leaders to enable them to better help teachers and teaching assistants to consistently teach well so that pupils made at least good progress. You have addressed this by ensuring that leaders have had the training needed to support colleagues effectively. They now ensure that all teachers use assessment information to plan interesting lessons. Pupil progress meetings ensure that all staff know how to support pupils to help them make better progress. Subject leaders have secure knowledge about their subject, and pass this on to staff through regular training. They monitor teaching and learning in their subject and act swiftly to address issues as they arise. Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of Allfarthing Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and that records are detailed and of high quality. Staff have received statutory training and are confident to recognise signs that a pupil might be at risk of harm. Senior leaders have established a strong safeguarding ethos, and there are clear procedures in place to report and follow up on any concerns.

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Short inspection of Allfarthing Primary School

Behaviour is well managed across the school. Pupils show respect when working together. During breaktimes, pupils play safely with a range of equipment. There is good supervision by adults. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, and they know how to protect themselves when online. Pupils show a good awareness of the different forms bullying might take. They know what to do if they experience bullying, and all feel confident to report it to a member of staff. Parents are confident that on the few occasions when bullying has happened senior leaders have dealt with it very swiftly.

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Inspection findings

 The inspection focused on key lines of enquiry, which we agreed at the start of the inspection. The first was around the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, as outcomes for this group were not as good as pupils nationally, nor as good as other pupils attending the school. This was both at the expected standard and the higher standard of greater depth, across the school.  We considered how effective leaders’ actions were in identifying the barriers to learning faced by these pupils. We found that leaders have identified this as an area for improvement and know this group of pupils well. They have started to ensure that effective strategies are in place to support academic and social development.  You have employed two teachers and a specialist teaching assistant to work directly with disadvantaged pupils. Senior leaders have an accurate view of what pupils need to learn. They ensure that effective interventions are in place and

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Inspection findings

that targets are set and reviewed regularly. Although gaps still exist, workbooks and the school’s own data show these are closing over time.  As a result of your monitoring, you have changed the way in which the school teaches children to read. A new phonics scheme is in place that is helping to ensure that pupils learn to spell and read effectively. Children in the early years are starting to use letters effectively to sound out words. This skill is further built upon as pupils progress through the school.  School data shows that pupils in Year 1 are expected to be in line with national outcomes in this year’s phonic screening checks. Books show that, as pupils move through the school, they are developing effective spelling strategies. There are lots of opportunities to read across the curriculum. This is helping pupils to develop positive attitudes to reading. For example, many pupils shared with me

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Inspection findings

their enjoyment of books and talked about their favourite authors.  Older pupils in upper key stage 2 demonstrated a range of effective reading skills to help them retrieve information, answer questions and discuss topics with others. In some parts of the school, those working with an adult were concentrating hard and learning effectively during reading sessions. However, some of those left to work independently did less well because tasks were not well enough matched to their needs and abilities.  Pupils write for a range of purposes across the curriculum. Skills are taught effectively and handwriting is neat. In some classes, teachers use questioning to encourage pupils to think hard, make good vocabulary choices and compose effective and interesting sentences. As a result, pupils produce high-quality writing.  Some teachers consistently provide pupils with helpful advice on how to improve their writing, and opportunities to edit their work. However, there are too few

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Inspection findings

opportunities to write at length across the different subject areas. The length and quality of writing produced is often limited by the space provided on a worksheet for pupils to write on. Teacher expectations are inconsistent in terms of the quality and standard of presentation. As a result, pupils do not consistently produce writing at the standard of which they are capable, in all subjects.

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Inspection findings

 Children in the early years experience a broad and enriching curriculum. They enjoy working together and are well supported by the adults around them. Pupils work inside and outside the classroom and engage in a range of activities to support their development and understanding. Although the inside classroom is well resourced in terms of writing opportunities, this is not the case outside as there are too few opportunities for early writing and mark-making, particularly in the activities that children self-select.  I then considered how effective leaders’ actions have been in ensuring that pupils are challenged in mathematics. Despite meeting national expectations at the end of key stage 2, progress was not as good across the school as for reading and writing in 2017. Teachers now use tracking effectively to identify gaps and next steps in learning. Books show that pupils experience a range of mathematical

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Inspection findings

topics, including shape, number, interpreting data and solving word problems.  Recent focus on basic skills has ensured that more pupils are developing fast recall of key facts, such as multiplication tables, number bonds and place value. In all year groups, pupils have opportunities to use resources and visual images to help them understand different aspects of mathematics. Consequently, pupils develop a range of methods to show and check their understanding, using written calculation methods.  In some classes, teachers show pupils how to reason by providing them with opportunities to explain their understanding using writing and diagrams. This helps them learn. Work in books shows that sometimes the most able pupils spend too long working on things they already know or can easily do, before moving on to more challenging work. As a result, pupils’ progress rates slow because teaching does not ensure that they spend enough of the lesson working

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Inspection findings

on aspects of mathematics that challenge them and really get them thinking hard.  Children in the early years have opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of number effectively and they engage well in team games, particularly when working outside. However, there are too few opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge of mathematics to problem-solving in the outside classroom.  Finally, I considered how effective leaders’ actions are to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence for disadvantaged pupils. There is support in place to help ensure that pupils attend school. Leaders arrange with parents to collect children from home, on occasion. Governors provide a free breakfast club for pupils, to ensure that they are in school on time and have a positive start to the day. The school has effectively improved attendance for almost all groups of pupils and attendance is now broadly in line with national levels.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  all pupils, particularly the most able in mathematics, are moved on to more challenging work quickly, so they reach their full potential  outcomes in writing improve in all subjects by sharing the good practice that exists, so that inconsistencies in teachers’ expectations are eliminated  children in the early years have more opportunities to write, use number and problem-solve, particularly in the outdoor learning environment.

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

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Information about the inspection

I met with the headteacher, senior leaders and governors. I scrutinised pupils’ work in English, science, mathematics, reading and topic books. I visited a range of lessons in the early years and key stages 1 and 2 to observe learning. I talked with pupils about their learning, both at formal and informal times throughout the day. I listened to pupils reading in class, in key stages 1 and 2. I met with parents at the start of the school day and analysed responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents. I also analysed responses to the staff questionnaire and scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school’s improvement plans, pupils’ attendance information, documentation related to safeguarding and the school’s assessment and behaviour information.

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