Noel Park Infant School

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

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Mr David Atter Executive Principal Noel Park Primary School Gladstone Avenue Wood Green London N22 6LH

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 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 June 2014.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in certain areas. This may indicate that the school is improving towards being outstanding. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Leaders have established an atmosphere which is exceptionally calm and welcoming. Pupils are happy, confident and eager to learn; they enjoy coming to school. The staff are proud to work at the school and they challenge all pupils to do better by having consistently high expectations.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

The overwhelming majority of pupils, parents and carers are proud to be members of the school community. One parent commented: ‘The school feels like a big family; everyone is working hard and giving their best. Ethnic and religious diversity help the children learn to respect each other.’ This was typical of the views of parents who submitted free-text comments during the inspection.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Leaders have focused on improving the quality of teaching and learning over time to ensure that all pupils make strong progress. Since you started as executive principal, you have increased the rigour and level of monitoring. You and the staff are clearer about which groups and areas to focus on. An example of this is the weekly monitoring of attendance which has helped the school to further improve the attendance of individuals and groups of pupils. As a result, the school’s overall attendance rate is consistently above national averages.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

The classrooms are calm, vibrant and stimulating. Pupils find the classroom displays helpful to guide their work. Teachers consistently expect high standards of presentation. The quality of work and excellent presentation in pupils’ books from across the school exemplifies the pride which pupils take in their learning.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Pupils’ conduct is impeccable within lessons and around school. They are confident and show excellent attitudes to their learning. They show respect to each other and to adults.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Since the last inspection, the leadership team has focused on improving the level of challenge in lessons. Teachers routinely use questions well so that pupils think deeply and give explanations for their answers. Leaders meticulously track the progress of different groups of pupils. This helps you to identify which pupils need to make even more progress. The regular pupil progress meetings and improvement plans have ensured that all pupils are making sustained progress.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

The leadership team of Noel Park Primary School has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. The governors and representatives from the academy trust ensure that safeguarding checks are carried out and accurately recorded. An external safeguarding review has been carried out which helped to satisfy governors that safeguarding is effective as well as using best practice to improve safeguarding procedures even further. This has helped to ensure that there is a culture of vigilance around safeguarding. There is a high level of trust and communication between staff and parents, who feel confident that their children are safe.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

The pupils I spoke with told me that they can talk to members of staff if they are worried. They spoke confidently about how the school has taught them to stay safe when working online. Pupils referred to organisations that have visited the school to help them to know how to keep safe. For example, they spoke about a presentation regarding the free telephone helpline, Childline, from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

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Short inspection of Noel Park Primary School

Staff are trained to identify when pupils may be at risk of harm. Leaders and staff are aware of local risks and work with external partners to support and protect pupils. Leaders have responded swiftly when pupils have been vulnerable and have worked with the local police to minimise risk from incidents within the local area.

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Inspection findings

 During this inspection, we agreed on several key lines of enquiry, including safeguarding, to focus inspection activities on.  The first key line of enquiry considered the identification and support for pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. This was because the proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has fallen significantly in recent years. The number within individual cohorts has also dropped.  The school makes use of expertise, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and counsellors, to advise teachers on how to accurately identify and meet pupils’ individual needs. There is an embedded culture of teachers meeting pupils’ needs through well-planned lessons. The provision for SEN and/or disabilities is highly effective and has resulted in some pupils catching up with their peers and no longer needing additional support.  Pupils who find it hard to settle in school are greeted on arrival, calmly reassured

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Inspection findings

and introduced to stimulating activities and routines. You have introduced attendance monitoring of groups of pupils on a weekly basis. This has helped you to provide targeted support for specific pupils and their families. The attendance of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities has increased and is now above the national average.  Through lesson observations and scrutiny of pupils’ work, it is evident that throughout the school pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are fully included. The school gives an exceptional level of care to individual pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. As a result, this group is making at least good progress and the school is ambitious for them to continue to make even better progress.  For the second key line of enquiry, I focused on the progress of the most able pupils in reading. In comparison to other pupils at the school, these pupils have not made as strong progress in reading at key stage 2 over the last few years.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders have introduced changes to the teaching of reading. This is making sure that all pupils, including the most able pupils, are challenged and make strong progress. However, the consistency in the quality of questions and challenge is more effective in key stage 2 than in key stage 1.  The school’s current assessment information shows strong progress in reading for all pupils, including the most able. This is matched by the progress seen in pupils’ books and pupils’ views about their continuous progress.

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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

 the level of challenge for pupils, particularly for the most able pupils, enables them to make better progress in reading in key stage 1.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chair of the board of trustees and chief executive officer of the multi academy trust, 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

During this inspection, I spoke with you and senior leaders. Together with you and senior leaders, I made visits to lessons to observe pupils’ learning and scrutinised their work. I talked to pupils in lessons and in a meeting, when I listened to their views of the school. I listened to some pupils read. A wide range of documentary evidence was scrutinised, including information about pupils’ performance, the school’s self-evaluation, the school development plan and safeguarding documentation. I had telephone conversations with the chair of the governing body and with a director of Academies Enterprise Trust. I looked at your records for teaching, learning and assessment and documents for the governing body. I took account of 43 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, including 18 free- text comments. I also considered the 41 responses to the staff questionnaire distributed as part of the inspection.

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