St Saviour's Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Smith Headteacher St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School Chrisp Street Poplar London E14 6BB

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 1 May 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 St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have set high expectations for what pupils can achieve. These expectations are based on your key values: ‘Care, respect, inspire’. You pursue high aspirations for all your pupils. Your school prides itself not only on achieving good academic results, but also on explicitly providing children with a warm and friendly environment in which to develop. A strength of the school is pupils’ positive attitudes to learning. They work hard to support each other, are polite and resilient and take pride in their school.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

You provide clear direction for the school’s future improvement. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. Comments such as ‘Teachers work really hard’ and ‘Can’t fault the education’ are typical of their viewpoints. This is a small school, and parents know that teachers know their children, who receive ‘individual attention’. You focus strongly on academic success, and ensure opportunities for pupils to participate in a broad range of activities, which enhance the curriculum. You prepare pupils very well for the next stage in their education.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

You have established an effective senior leadership team. Together, you have led effective improvements in teaching and addressed the aspects for improvement that were identified in the previous inspection. You have identified appropriate priorities to continue to improve the school.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Children in the early years make good progress given their starting points and capabilities. By the time pupils leave at the end of Year 6, attainment and progress are above the national averages, and have been in recent years. Leaders rightly identified, however, that performance in writing in the 2017 key stage 2 assessments was below that for reading and mathematics. You put in place a full range of strategies to support pupils. This includes targeting individual pupils, providing additional support and introducing more challenging texts for pupils. Such strategies have been successful in improving pupils’ progress, overall. Improving the quality of teaching and learning is a continual focus for the leadership team.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Governors have a good understanding of the school. Their knowledge of the local community and their varied range of skills enable them to support school improvement well. Governors use a range of information effectively to challenge school leaders. They ensure that their regular visits to school enable them to see, first hand, the work of school leaders.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Leaders and governors have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are effective, and records are robust. All checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are in place. Staff and governors have a thorough understanding of current safeguarding guidance. This includes knowledge of the ‘Prevent’ duty and of female genital mutilation. They take this responsibility seriously and are effective in this aspect of their role. Leaders work well with families and external agencies to ensure that vulnerable pupils receive well-targeted support, as required.

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Short inspection of St Saviour’s Church of England Primary School

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when using online technology. School assemblies and workshops help pupils and parents understand how to manage risks online. Pupils and parents said that the school is a safe place.

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Inspection findings

 I looked at the actions leaders are taking to improve the performance in writing across the school so that it more closely matches that in reading and mathematics. Leaders have ensured that core literacy skills are at the heart of the school’s curriculum. This starts in the early years, where children are immersed in story-telling. They quickly learn to map a story, constructing simple sentences, for example, when writing about ‘why I will never eat a tomato’. This helps pupils from an early age to develop their ideas before writing. The school places an emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar in lessons. Speaking and listening are prioritised so that pupils explore ideas and develop their thinking.  The school continues to develop writing skills as pupils progress through the school. Pupils write independently and at length in English lessons and across the curriculum. Their writing is supported by the introduction of high-quality texts.

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Inspection findings

For example, Year 6 pupils use extracts from ‘The diary of Anne Frank’ to infer meaning and apply knowledge to answer challenging questions. Teachers emphasise the purpose, audience, structure and organisation of the text. Evidence from their writing shows that pupils across the school develop the stamina to write well. Analysis of the school’s most recent assessment information shows that pupils in all year groups are making good progress. Outcomes in writing closely match those in reading and mathematics.  For the second line of enquiry, we looked at how the school’s curriculum supports the achievement of disadvantaged pupils to bring them in line with all pupils nationally. We further agreed to look at how your curriculum meets the needs of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities.  Leaders have prioritised further development of the curriculum. They have consulted pupils, parents and governors to ensure that pupils’ needs and

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Inspection findings

interests are met. They are determined to make learning ‘an amazing journey’ for all pupils through an ‘innovative, irresistible, inclusive curriculum’. For example, all key stage 2 pupils worked with an international company to design an app linked to a project on ‘Northern lights’.  Opportunities are made available for pupils to participate in a wide variety of activities. For example, pupils have sung at St Paul’s Cathedral and in the presence of the Queen and Prince Phillip. The recent whole-school art project on gigantic Roald Dahl characters is typical of the high-quality work in art. A range of authors have visited the school to promote a love of reading. Visits to museums, art galleries and places of interest complement projects in each year group. Sport is a strength of the school, with many pupils representing the borough. This has a positive impact, not only on their health and fitness, but also

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Inspection findings

on pupils’ ability to persevere and practise their skills.  Teachers ensure that there is a good balance between subjects in their choice of curriculum themes. They work hard to ensure that learning is matched to pupils’ needs. This includes those pupils who are visually impaired or who have a physical or hearing impairment. Evidence from classroom visits and pupils’ books demonstrates that the needs of all pupils are met. This is supported by the school’s most recent assessment information.  Finally, I looked at how leaders have improved attendance and reduced the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent. This was because, over time, attendance has been low, especially for particular groups. Leaders acknowledge that attendance is a priority. They have high expectations and have ensured that strategies are in place for attendance to improve.  The school encourages good attendance through its displays and assemblies. It

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Inspection findings

regularly celebrates those pupils with full attendance. The school has used additional funding to improve attendance. Strategies include breakfast clubs, which target specific pupils. The use of the family support officer enables the school to support pupils with low attendance. In this way, there is a greater emphasis on working closely with parents, especially when their children first start school. Case studies show the improvement in attendance for a number of disadvantaged pupils.  The senior leadership team systematically monitors attendance information and ensures that low attendance is followed up. The school analyses its attendance information alongside progress information. Although there have been some individual successes, attendance remains below the national average.

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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

 overall attendance improves for all pupils and especially key groups.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of London, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Tower Hamlets. 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:

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Information about the inspection

 met with the headteacher and senior leaders  met with middle leaders  held a meeting with members of the governing body  held a meeting with the school’s improvement partner and diocesan link adviser  listened to pupils read  listened to the views of six parents  reviewed a range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans and information about pupil progress and attendance  scrutinised a range of pupils’ work  reviewed the school’s single central record, pre-employment checks and safeguarding procedures  scrutinised the school’s website  considered 46 responses to Ofsted’s online survey and Parent View  considered eight responses to the staff survey  visited lessons in classes with the headteacher.

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