Engayne Primary School

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

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Mrs Sara Sankey Headteacher Engayne Primary School Severn Drive Cranham Upminster Essex RM14 1SW

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 18 April 2018 with Ann Pratt, Ofsted Inspector, 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 March 2014.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have restructured the senior and middle leadership teams and successfully recruited teachers with a range of skills and experiences in all key stages. Together with other leaders, staff and governors, you ensure that this is a happy, vibrant and caring community school.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

The school’s supportive governing body has worked effectively in ensuring that you and leaders are well supported and challenged. Governors are ambitious for the school and proactive in developing their own skills and knowledge.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

The vast majority of parents and carers speak very highly of the quality of education and care their children receive. As one parent commented, ‘Engayne sets a platform for a good healthy culture, promoting self-esteem, values and confidence in its children.’ Parents praised the strong relationships between pupils and staff. They appreciate that staff are always willing and available to discuss how well pupils are doing, both academically and socially.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

You and your staff have worked to tackle the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. The school was asked to raise pupils’ achievement to outstanding. You, your assistant headteachers and leaders have set about achieving this. For example, you provide training and support to staff to improve their practice. As a result, the quality of teaching and pupils’ outcomes in writing and mathematics have improved. You acknowledge that leaders need to focus on deepening pupils’ learning across the wider curriculum as well as in reading, writing and mathematics. When we looked in pupils’ books together, we saw that there is more work to be done to ensure that pupils’ outcomes in science and the foundation subjects are consistently strong.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

An area for improvement at the last inspection related to governors’ checks on pupils’ progress across the year groups. Governors have worked effectively to address this. For example, they have undertaken training to improve their checks on pupils’ outcomes. Governors look at the work in pupils’ books with leaders and meet each term to look at achievement information. Governors are now more effective at challenging leaders, and this contributes well to pupils’ progress.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

Staff and governors have a secure understanding of the school’s safeguarding procedures. The school works effectively with external agencies to help safeguard pupils. Leaders have ensured that records are detailed and of high quality. Action is taken where there are any concerns relating to pupils’ safety and well-being.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

Leaders ensure that staff are regularly trained and kept up to date with the latest safeguarding guidance. As a result, staff clearly understand their responsibilities and know what to do if they have any concerns about pupils’ welfare.

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Short inspection of Engayne Primary School

Pupils have a very clear understanding of how to keep themselves safe, particularly online. They feel that school is a safe place to be and that bullying is rare. They understand the difference between bullying and one-off conflict situations. Pupils know that bullying is not tolerated at the school. They said that staff deal with any issues immediately.

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Inspection findings

 Our first line of enquiry for this inspection related to children’s progress in the early years. This was because the proportion of children reaching a good level of development has improved since the previous inspection but remains below average. We wanted to find out whether children make good progress from their starting points.  We found that most children start Reception with knowledge and skills that are typical for their age. Some children, however, start school with weak social, communication and language skills. In our walk through the Reception classes, we found that children listen well to adults and to each other. Staff support children’s language and communication skills well overall. Children are very good at taking turns in play and sharing and have very good attitudes to work. For example, children were observed successfully writing letters and sentences and then proudly showing their work to the teacher.

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Inspection findings

 You agree that teachers’ assessments of children’s learning when they enter Reception are not used consistently well. Furthermore, staff do not use their observations of children’s learning consistently well to plan activities that are closely matched to children’s needs.  Next, we looked at how effectively leaders ensure that pupils make good progress in writing from the Reception to the end of key stage 1. This was because, last year, pupils’ progress in writing, between the end of the early years and the end of key stage 1 was below that of their peers.  You analysed the assessment information to find the reasons for this. In our visits to lessons, we saw teachers using strategies consistently well to support pupils’ writing in key stage 1. Activities were well matched to pupils’ needs. We saw examples of teachers challenging pupils and encouraging them to expand on the ideas and explanations in their writing. Pupils and staff follow the school’s

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Inspection findings

feedback policy consistently well in order to continually improve outcomes in writing.  In addition, leaders have ensured that there are many opportunities for pupils to write for real purposes. Pupils choose to write independently and are also taught in focused sessions with adults. During our visit, we saw pupils choosing to write in a number of ways. For example, a group of pupils created recipes for pizzas that they were making and selling at their market stall later in the day. Staff plan effective opportunities for pupils to experience real-life experiences in order to develop pupils’ ideas for writing.  The work in pupils’ books shows that they are making good progress in writing at key stage 1. The school’s assessment information indicates that pupils are making good progress towards achieving the national standards at the end of key stage 1.  Finally, we looked at what leaders are doing to ensure that the most able pupils

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Inspection findings

make better progress in reading and mathematics at key stage 2. This was because, in 2017, the progress made by these pupils was not as strong as that of their peers.  You and other leaders recognise this and have worked hard to put in place a number of changes and improvements. Leaders have ensured that staff have the skills and resources they need to help the most able pupils achieve well and make strong progress. In reading sessions, staff encourage these pupils to extend their vocabulary and teach them how to glean deeper information more quickly from different texts.  Leaders have invested in purchasing high-quality reading resources and texts. This has contributed to pupils’ enjoyment of reading. The pupils who spoke with inspectors were enthusiastic and could talk in detail about their favourite authors.  In order to develop pupils’ reading skills to the highest levels, leaders have changed the way in which reading is taught this year. There is now a daily focus

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Inspection findings

on developing pupils’ comprehension skills, and all teachers are providing opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding of the texts they read. This work is at an early stage and you agree that it is too soon to see the impact. These strategies need to be fully embedded throughout the school.  You make sure that teaching in mathematics builds well on pupils’ prior knowledge and skills. Teachers provide pupils, including the most able pupils, with good opportunities to apply their understanding and solve problems. In our visits to lessons, we saw this in action. Pupils in key stage 2 confidently applied their knowledge of multiplication and division to problem-solving activities. They explained their calculation methods very well.  Teachers make sure that the most able pupils complete work that is suitably challenging. The school’s assessment information and work in pupils’ books show that the most able pupils are making strong progress in reading and

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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 strategies to further improve pupils’ comprehension skills in reading are fully embedded throughout the school  teachers in the early years use observations of assessment information consistently well so that all children make the progress of which they are capable  leaders strengthen the opportunities to deepen pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding in subjects other than English and mathematics.

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

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Information about the inspection

Inspectors carried out the following activities:

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Information about the inspection

 a scrutiny of the single central record of recruitment checks and other documents related to safeguarding and child protection, including the school’s safeguarding policy  a review of other documents related to governance, pupils’ behaviour and attendance  meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, four governors and a local authority representative  a review of the school’s self-evaluation documents and improvement plans  observations of learning across the school and a scrutiny of work in pupils’ writing, mathematics and wider curriculum books  observations of pupils’ behaviour at break and lunchtime  conversations with a group of pupils and with pupils in lessons, in the playground and in the dining hall  listening to pupils in Year 3 and Year 6 read  a review of the 81 responses to Parent View, including written comments in the free-text facility, 113 responses to the pupil survey and 51 responses to the staff

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