St Jude's Church of England Primary School

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

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Mrs Pia Longman Acting Headteacher St Jude’s Church of England Primary School Colnbrook Street London SE1 6HA

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

Following my visit to the school on 12 September 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 October 2014.

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

Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I have identified some priorities for improvement which I advise the school to address. In light of these priorities, the school’s next inspection will be a full section 5 inspection. There is

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

The school has recently entered a partnership with a neighbouring school, Peter Hills School, which has been a positive step and welcomed by the community. The partnership was a request from the governing body, who were concerned about the challenges of recruiting teachers and falling pupil numbers. Together with the ‘Team Around St Jude’s’ approach, you began this journey informally in the spring term and since April 2018 you have formalised this partnership and the two schools now work together.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

As acting headteacher for St Jude’s, you have introduced a number of key developments which are already having an impact on pupils’ outcomes. You know the school well and have acted quickly to address some of the concerns. These include an ongoing redesign of the curriculum and the partnership of teachers and leaders who plan and mentor across both schools to raise the quality of teaching and learning. As part of this drive to raise standards, you have refocused staff. Governors have also opened up a nursery class as a strategy to address the falling roll.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Governors are highly supportive of their school. They are reflective and, in response to the previous inspection, commissioned an external audit in order to improve their effectiveness. They are clear on their priorities so that their impact on the school’s improvement is strengthened. These include creating the governing body plan, a clear framework for visits to the school and a governor skills audit to ensure that training needs are met. New governors are appointed with specific skills. Governors are not afraid to have challenging conversations with leaders and collaborate well with the local authority in order to ensure that the school has a positive future.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Pupils are very happy at St Jude’s. They are quick to welcome visitors. Pupils talk openly and enthusiastically about their learning in lessons, the fun they have in the playground and their roles and responsibilities. Being a lunchtime server is a particularly popular job! They wholeheartedly recommend their school and highlighted Golden Time, when they get to choose different activities, picnics in the park and bike training as absolute favourites.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Safeguarding and keeping children safe is important at this school. A safeguarding culture extends to all staff, including the governing body. This is evident from the thorough record-keeping and processes in place, and from conversations with children about keeping safe online. When meeting with the pupils, it became clear that some of the younger pupils still need to be reminded that ‘friends’ met online through certain games are not actually people they know, so this continues to be taught through the curriculum.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Staff have received up-to-date training and can show the impact this has had, gaining a heightened awareness of risks such as extremism. A staff member has a specific responsibility to lead on female genital mutilation and has trained staff and met with families in the community.

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no change to the school’s current overall effectiveness grade of good as a

Staff know how to report concerns. Referral systems are in place and staff also know why this is important and respond to ongoing changes and developments as a matter of course. Leaders ensure that all new staff are fully aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. You draw on external support appropriately to ensure that your safeguarding policy and practice meet statutory requirements. Children feel safe, and can give examples of ways to keep safe in school and when they are out in the community.

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Inspection findings

 The first was an area for improvement in the previous inspection report. We looked at how you have increased the quality of learning to improve progress. We looked at a range of pupils’ books from all year groups and rapid progress is evident from April 2018. This is particularly in English and mathematics. Leaders now identify and track pupils with particular needs. You now ensure that these pupils are well supported and make strong progress from their starting points. However, this now needs to be applied consistently across all classes and for all pupils.  The second target was also taken from the previous inspection and was about improving the effectiveness of middle leaders and governance. The school has started to respond positively to this. Middle leaders from the partnership school are beginning to work very closely with teachers who coach and help plan lessons and this is now beginning to have an impact on outcomes and pupils’

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Inspection findings

engagement during lessons.  Next, we looked at the current rates of progress for all groups of children in the early years foundation stage and how they are challenged sufficiently. The school has introduced an accurate baseline so that children’s needs can be met more fully and quickly. An electronic system is also being introduced to track progress and identify next steps more effectively. Through open-ended learning opportunities, children are now identified who require further challenge, which will mean the children will begin to make rapid progress. Training across the partner schools is now in place and this is having an impact on, for example, how the use of questioning can deepen and extend the learning of the youngest children during their play. This now needs to be applied consistently across early years staff in order to be effective.  Finally, we looked at how leaders have constructed the curriculum to enable all

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Inspection findings

groups of pupils to work at greater depth. The leaders are keen to ensure that all children reach their potential and have been working hard to redesign the curriculum to make it specific, relevant and dynamic. The mathematics curriculum now focuses on mathematical reasoning and pupils being able to apply these skills in a range of contexts. Pupils are now talking ‘maths’ in lessons and this was seen particularly with Year 3 and 5 pupils and in maths books since the summer term. In English, the focus has been on using accessible texts that reflect the local culture and diversity. Critical thinking and questioning is now part of lessons, and increased opportunities to write across the curriculum are evident in the pupil’s books. Cursive handwriting has been introduced and pupils take pride in their books and their presentation.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they:

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Next steps for the school

 raise the quality of teaching and learning so it is consistently good or better across the school  embed the broader, relevant and challenging curriculum to promote deeper learning across the school in key stages 1 and 2 in order to achieve stronger outcomes for pupils working at greater depth  further strengthen the partnership between the two schools. This will enable the schools to share expertise, resources, professional development and continue the coaching of middle and senior leaders to ensure that this success is balanced across the schools.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, director of education for the Diocese of Southwark, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Southwark. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection I held meetings with you, your deputy, the assistant head and special educational needs coordinator. I also met with the chair and vice-chair of governors, and with representatives from the local authority and the diocese. I spoke briefly with parents as they dropped off their children in the morning. I took account of the responses to Parent View, the online Ofsted questionnaire, including one free-text comment, and the school’s own survey which had 18 responses in March 2018. I spoke informally with staff and children and analysed the eight responses to the staff survey. There was one response to the pupil 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 and the single central record and other documentation relating to safeguarding.

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