Durdans Park Primary School

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

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Mr Chris Duhig Headteacher Durdan’s Park Primary School King George’s Drive Off Lady Margaret Road Southall UB1 2PQ

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 22 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 December 2013.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You provide stable and fair leadership, and the school’s vision of ‘equality-excellence-enjoyment’ was easy to see across the school during the inspection. Many pupils shared with me that ‘learning was fun’ at Durdan’s Park Primary School.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

This is a high-achieving school where pupils’ achievement has continued to rise. At the end of key stage 2, pupils outperform the national averages in writing and mathematics. This success has been due to the development of leadership since the last inspection. Senior leaders are accurate in their evaluation of the school and provide strong direction. Middle leaders, particularly in mathematics and the wider curriculum, have made marked improvements. You empower subject leaders to take ownership of their roles and responsibilities through ongoing professional development. As a result, middle leaders understand their subject areas and have a clear vision for further improvements. Leaders have prioritised the improvement of reading through a number of new initiatives, but recognise that there is still more work to be done.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

Staff are proud to work at the school and feel well supported. Parents typically share positive views about the school. They value your approachable manner, and speak highly of teachers’ good communication and the range of activities available for their children.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

Governors keep up to date with their safeguarding training, including preventing extremism. They have a strong understanding of the school’s safeguarding procedures, including how and when to use external agencies, when required. Leaders provide governors with a range of material, including assessment and subject-specific information. However, governors’ understanding of information provided to them by leaders is at a basic level. Governors are able to recall new initiatives leaders use across the school, but do not know, or challenge, whether these are making a positive difference to pupils’ outcomes.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Pre-employment checks are thorough, and staff training reflects the latest safeguarding guidance. Staff have a clear understanding of how to report any concerns they may have.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

Leaders have a robust understanding of potential risks to pupils, and implement effectively a variety of strategies to keep pupils safe. For example, Year 4 pupils spoke confidently about the ‘PANTS’ rule and how it helps them to keep safe. In Year 5, pupils demonstrated an insightful understanding of the rights of children during the Victorian era, and how these have changed in modern Britain. Pupils reflected on the United Nations’ rights respecting charter and current global challenges, including child labour.

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Short inspection of Durdan’s Park Primary School

Twenty pupils have been trained as ‘cyber mentors’ to help others keep safe online, and to solve any minor disputes. Pupils spoke highly of the role of the mentors and shared a commonly held view that mentors help them to ‘resolve any problems’. Pupils have a strong understanding of online safety, including the potential dangers of social media.

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Inspection findings

 We first agreed to check to see how effective leaders have been in improving pupils’ reading. We identified this because in 2016 and 2017 Year 6 pupils’ progress and attainment in reading was not as strong as in writing and mathematics. Furthermore, in 2017 the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in the national phonics screening check fell to be broadly in line with the national average. In previous years, this had been well above the national average.  Pupils receive strong support in their phonics teaching. Teaching is consistently good because of adults’ strong subject knowledge and clear routines. Pupils engage well in their phonics sessions, including lower-ability pupils. Pupils collaborate well and share texts linked to previously taught sounds. For example, in early years, children read stories together and helped each other to segment and blend letters and sounds.  Leaders have prioritised the teaching of new vocabulary to improve pupils’

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Inspection findings

knowledge and understanding of texts. Teachers’ strategies to deepen pupils’ understanding are consistent and effective. For example, Year 3 pupils learned about the different meanings of the word ‘tremble’, and successfully explained the meaning of the word in stories, and related this to their geography topic on earthquakes.  In some lessons, tasks do not challenge pupils sufficiently to develop their fluency in reading. Leaders recognise that inconsistencies remain in the quality of teaching reading.  The second focus for the inspection was leaders’ work to develop the wider curriculum. This is because leaders have prioritised the curriculum design to broaden pupils’ knowledge and understanding.  Leaders use a thematic approach to the wider curriculum effectively. Well- planned lessons aid pupils’ learning about topics in depth. For example, Year 6 pupils spoke articulately about their learning of the Second World War, and

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Inspection findings

related this to their class novel ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’, reflecting on the plight of evacuees. They applied their learning to write persuasive letters to ‘dictators’ to make the world a better place. In Year 5, pupils learned about the Victorian era as part of their history topic; pupils read the story ‘The Street Child’, and could articulate the correct meanings of words such as ‘urchin’ and ‘shillings’. This approach is effective at improving pupils’ writing. Although pupils have many opportunities to write at length, the quality of writing in their topic books is not to the same high standards as in their English lessons.  The final area of focus was to look at the effectiveness of leaders’ actions in the development of mathematics. This was because over the last few years pupils’ progress and attainment at the end of key stage 2 in mathematics was significantly above the national average.  The teaching of mathematics is highly effective. Teachers develop pupils’

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Inspection findings

mathematical understanding through challenging work and skilful questioning. Teachers build on pupils’ previous learning and set well-planned activities that develop pupils’ reasoning and problem-solving skills, particularly the most able pupils.  Pupils benefit from using visual and practical resources to help develop their calculation strategies. For example, Year 2 pupils confidently used a number line to add and subtract numbers. Lower-ability pupils successfully completed tasks by using dienes to partition numbers, while adding two-digit numbers. As a result, pupils build very strong mathematical foundations.  The leadership of mathematics is very strong. A clear vision, coupled with ongoing professional development, has resulted in very sharp self-evaluation of the strengths and next steps for mathematics teaching.

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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

 governors improve their understanding of information provided to them, so that they provide rigorous challenge to school leaders  the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in reading continues to improve by consistently challenging pupils with tasks that build on their fluency and reading comprehension  the quality of pupils’ writing in their topic lessons is as high as that in their English lessons.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I visited all year groups and scrutinised pupils’ books, accompanied by senior and middle leaders. I carried out a review of the school’s documentation, including the school’s improvement plans and assessment and safeguarding information. I held meetings with senior and middle leaders and governors. I held a telephone conversation with a local authority adviser. I gathered the views of pupils in lessons and in the playground. Finally, I considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys, including nine responses from parents, 15 responses from staff members and 102 responses from pupils.

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