Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

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

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Mr Adam Twyman Headteacher Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School Burnt Oak Lane Sidcup Kent DA15 9DB

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

Following my visit to the school on 20 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in November 2012.

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. In August 2015, the school became an academy and joined the Amadeus Primaries Academy Trust. It is one of four local schools in the trust. Since your appointment as headteacher to the school, you have set high expectations for what pupils can achieve. You are ably supported by your leadership team which shares your vision. The changes you have brought to the school seek ‘to instil a lifelong love of learning’ in the pupils and staff. This is particularly evident in how you have started to bring together the school community through the library ‘London Bus’ that stands proudly on your school playground.

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

One of the strengths of the school is the pupils’ attitudes to learning. They work hard to support each other in lessons. Pupils are polite, resilient and take pride in their school. You provide clear direction for the school’s improvement. Your focus has been strongly on academic success as well as opportunities for pupils to participate in a range of additional activities. This has been successful.

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

You appreciate that you serve a close-knit community and have created a learning environment that promotes your core values through strong links to the church and diocese. Most parents and carers are highly supportive of the school. However, you and your local governing body recognise that there is still work to be done to improve communication with parents, particularly when bringing in changes to school procedures.

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

The leadership team is determined to do the best for all the pupils in the school. You have addressed the aspects for improvement that were identified in the previous inspection. You have improved the quality of teaching over time and the effective use of assessment information to drive school improvement. At times, pupils’ work lacks sufficient challenge, particularly for the most able.

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Short inspection of Holy Trinity Lamorbey Church of England School

Leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. All checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are in place. Staff and governor training is up to date and they understand current statutory guidance. As a result, leaders have established a culture of vigilance to keep pupils safe. They know how to spot when pupils may be at risk, particularly children missing in education. Your attendance team works closely with the local authority to tackle poor attendance and persistent absence. Staff know how to raise any concerns they have about a pupil’s welfare, using the school system for reporting effectively. Leaders work well with families and external agencies to ensure that pupils receive well-targeted support. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe.

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Inspection findings

 At the start of the inspection, we agreed key lines of enquiry to test out whether the school remained good. The first key line of enquiry looked at leaders’ actions to improve rates of attendance. This was because persistent absence has risen and is above the national average.  Leaders had already identified attendance as a priority and put in place strategies to address it. The effective deployment of key staff enables the school to support pupils with persistent absence, particularly if circumstances might make their families vulnerable. This work is followed up by the school’s education welfare officer. Consequently, there is a greater emphasis on working closely with parents. While this is proving to be effective for families new to the school, you and your leaders recognise that more work needs to be done to address parental engagement and communication at the school.  The leadership team monitors attendance information carefully and follows up

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Inspection findings

any causes for concern. While there have been some individual cases where attendance has improved, persistent absence still needs to remain a key focus of your work.  The next key line of enquiry focused on pupils’ progress in reading. In 2017, progress in key stage 2 reading, while in line with the national average, was comparatively lower than writing and mathematics. Linked to this, we agreed to explore the slight decline in outcomes for the phonics screening check in 2017.  The school has recognised both these issues by ensuring that strong progress in reading for all pupils is a priority for leaders. Your sharpened focus on phonics is proving to be successful. New leadership in this area is helping to ensure that staff deliver phonics sessions effectively. Staff now track pupils’ progress in phonics, identifying gaps in understanding at an early stage and putting in place appropriate support for pupils. On our visits to lessons, we saw children in the

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Inspection findings

early years using their developing phonics skills well.  You have invested wisely in a reading scheme that is appropriate and engages pupils’ interests. In key stage 2, pupils use their reading skills well to improve their writing, based on high-quality texts. All pupils I spoke to said that they enjoyed reading and knew a range of authors. Year 6 pupils are independent readers and use a range of strategies to pronounce less familiar words. Higher- attaining pupils say that they would like more challenging comprehensions and would like to plan and design questions about the text for their friends. It is true that work lacks challenge at times, particularly for the most able pupils.  The final line of enquiry considered the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils in mathematics at the end of key stage 2. While numbers are relatively small, you agreed that this group of pupils needed further support

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Inspection findings

to make strong progress.  You and your staff have worked hard in delivering a consistent approach to mathematics across the school. Staff use targeted questioning to deepen pupils’ thinking and additional staff support individual pupils well. The use of assessment information about disadvantaged pupils allows teachers to track the progress of these pupils in each lesson. This is proving to be successful as teachers carefully plan work that meets their needs. However, in the mathematics lessons we observed, talking with pupils, and the books we scrutinised, it was evident that more challenge is needed to ensure that pupils make consistently strong 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

 there are more opportunities for challenge in lessons, particularly for the most able pupils in reading and mathematics  they strengthen lines of communication between the school and parents  they continue to reduce rates of persistent absence.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees, the chief executive officer of the Amadeus Primary Academies Trust, the director of education for the Diocese of Rochester, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Bexley. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, we carried out the following activities:  I met with you and senior leaders, and held meetings with members of the trust’s local governing body, including the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust.  I reviewed a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans.  I reviewed information about pupils’ progress and attendance.  I scrutinised a range of pupils’ work.  I reviewed the school’s single central record, pre-employment checks and safeguarding procedures.  I scrutinised the school’s website.  I considered the 20 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.  I considered the 24 responses to the staff survey.  I visited lessons with members of the leadership team.  I spoke to pupils in lessons about their learning and views of the school.

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