Setting

Mrs Deborah Norton Headteacher Wellington Primary School Sutton Lane Hounslow TW3 4LB

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 15 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 February 2014.

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Short inspection of Wellington 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 specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a full section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Your school has continued to expand since the previous inspection, and has been successfully established on a split site since September 2017. The infant school has remained on the original site and plans are in place to increase the provision to a four-form entry school. The junior school section moved to a new purpose-built campus, located nearby. Parents, pupils, staff and governors all agreed that leaders managed the move very effectively and the children adapted swiftly to the changes. You have successfully reorganised the responsibilities of senior staff to take account of the increased number of pupils on roll. This has ensured that staff continue to collaborate closely and work effectively together across both sites.

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Governors are highly supportive of the school. They are well informed and took the decision to conduct their meetings during the school day. This means that they can visit classrooms and gain an in-depth knowledge of the standards and priorities of the school to inform their discussions and decisions. Governors agree that this is a high-achieving school with high expectations. Ofsted

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted The school is pioneering and open to trying new approaches to learning. For example, the adoption of new teaching methods have been successful in raising standards in mathematics. As part of a hub, other teachers often visit classrooms and are keen to learn from the staff and their approaches to learning. As a result, the school is valued by parents and carers. As the chair of governors commented: ‘All staff genuinely want the very best for the pupils.’

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Parents typically say that they are happy with the school and praise its academic rigour. They appreciate how well pupils are supported when they are struggling.

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Your pupils are a credit to you. They are enthusiastic learners and articulate when engaging in conversations with each other and adults. Pupils say that teachers make their learning interesting and creative and are always happy to help. There are significant opportunities for pupils to take on leadership roles. These range from digital leaders, newsletter writers, playground monitors to the more recent rights-respecting project with UNICEF. Pupils feel empowered and were involved in naming the classes for the new campus and selecting the playground equipment. Pupils shared that the school’s values encouraged them to become resilient learners, and commended the school on treating all pupils equally.

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Short inspection of Wellington Primary School

Leaders and governors ensure that the culture of safeguarding and keeping children safe is of the utmost importance. Staff have received up-to-date training and can show the impact that this has had with their heightened awareness of potential risks to pupils, including extremism and female genital mutilation. Staff know how to use the well-organised systems to report any concerns. Pupils feel safe. They participate in workshops that help them to know how to keep safe when working online. Pupils are respectful of the school’s restrictions on the use of social media. Teachers have explicitly given pupils and parents guidelines on keeping safe in a digital world. These actions have ensured that the school’s safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

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Inspection findings

 We first agreed to look at the effectiveness of teachers’ use of assessment in their planning to meet the needs of all groups of pupils. This was also an area of improvement in the previous inspection report, particularly in writing.  The school has worked effectively to address this area. Teachers now feel responsible for their assessment information about pupils’ progress rather than this being driven solely by senior leaders. Teachers plan for specific needs and monitor pupils’ progress information very effectively to ensure that the needs of all pupils are met. When looking at a range of books from across all year groups, it is evident that all groups of pupils are making at least strong, if not better, progress over time.  Pupils have extensive opportunities to develop their writing in all year groups. This is evident from mark-making opportunities in Nursery to sophisticated experiment reports in Year 6 science.

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Inspection findings

  We next agreed to focus on current rates of progress and attainment for all children in the early years and pupils in Years 2 and 6.  Currently, pupils’ performance across the school is very strong. Leaders and teachers swiftly identify where there are any gaps in pupils’ knowledge through regular discussion with each other and informal assessments. Teachers have high expectations of pupils and ensure that effective support is given to any pupils falling behind, enabling them to catch up quickly.  Leaders monitor the achievement of different groups of pupils very carefully. As a result, the differences in the achievement of different groups of pupils are reducing. At key stage 2, pupils are on track to fulfil their potential in all subjects, and at least match the strong achievement of previous years.  We next looked at how well all groups of pupils are embracing the richness of the broad and balanced curriculum.

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Inspection findings

 The curriculum is a strength of the school. Parents, pupils and staff all shared examples of how this is being achieved. Pupils say classroom activities are creative and interesting. They also love the off-site trips and cited examples of sleepovers at the Science Museum in Year 5 as particularly enjoyable. Year 6 pupils shared their enthusiasm about an upcoming residential trip.  The school prioritises and plans enrichment of pupils’ learning with three extra- curricular opportunities per year group. These include one workshop, one local and one national trip. This enables pupils to broaden their experiences and promotes self-confidence.  Leaders and governors place high importance on cross-curricular teaching and learning. This helps pupils to make connections between the knowledge and skills that they acquire in different subject areas.  Finally, we looked at how well leaders are tackling low attendance and persistent

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Inspection findings

absenteeism for pupils whose first language is not English. The school continues to do this effectively. There are a range of incentives aimed to promote good attendance. An educational welfare officer supports the monitoring and follow-up work with families, including through home visits. Term-time holidays continue to be a challenge for the school. Incentives for set periods of full attendance, such as class-based non-uniform days, are having a positive impact, as are local authority fixed penalty notices. This is an ongoing area of improvement for the school.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  the current strengths in the curriculum and in teachers’ use of assessment are sustained as the school expands so that all groups of pupils make the progress of which they are capable  monitoring attendance and ensuring all pupils attend regularly remains a priority in the school.

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

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I held meetings with you, your senior and middle leaders. I also spoke with the chair of governors and one other governor, and held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority. I spoke with parents at the start of the day. I also took account of the 46 responses to Parent View, the online Ofsted questionnaire. I spoke informally with staff and children and analysed the 19 responses to the staff survey. Together, we observed teaching and learning across the school. I looked at samples of pupils’ work in a wide range of subjects and from all year groups. I also reviewed a wide range of documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, the single central record of recruitment checks and other documentation relating to safeguarding.

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