Avanti Court Primary School

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

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Mrs Deborah Walters Principal Avanti Court Primary School Carlton Drive Barkingside Essex IG6 1LZ

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 25 September 2018 with David Bryant, 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 predecessor school was judged to be good in February 2014.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court 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 section 5 inspection.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Since joining the school in 2015, you have created a ‘no excuses’ culture, which is embedded across the whole team. This means that everybody in the school, including the pupils, work hard to overcome any difficulties that they face. Both staff and pupils appreciate the many opportunities that you provide for them to develop and learn. Teachers actively seek out opportunities to develop their practice and are ambitious for their pupils. Pupils embrace the variety of opportunities that they receive to develop knowledge and skills across a wide range of subjects.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Avanti Court Primary is a special place to learn. There is a balance between developing pupils academically and spiritually. The warmth of the school is obvious when first walking through the school gate. This is a school where everybody is made to feel welcome. Staff enjoy working here, and pupils enjoy learning here. This is because you and your team have worked hard to create a nurturing and inclusive environment. Pupils who are new to the school settle in well because there is a strong culture of respect in the school. Pupils are polite to a fault, and their behaviour is exemplary. Your school benefits from the support you are given by Avanti Trust. The trust closely monitors the standards in the school and sets high expectations for the leaders and staff in their schools.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

When the school was last inspected, there were three areas for improvement. You have addressed all of these.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

At the time of the last inspection, only the headteacher and the deputy head were in a position to monitor the quality of teaching. Since then, you have developed a wide team of senior and middle leaders. These leaders are highly effective. They know their subject areas well. They are clear about the strengths in teaching and areas for improvement. They provide strong and effective support to teachers who are new to the school or the profession. As a result of their leadership, teaching and outcomes have improved since the school was last inspected.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Historically, some of the teaching did not provide appropriate challenge for the most able pupils. This has been a focus for the school since the last inspection. The curriculum has been developed to ensure that there are more opportunities for pupils to be challenged in their learning. For example, pupils study more difficult novels in English, and in mathematics there are opportunities to solve complex problems. Teachers have also been trained to challenge pupils through the activities that they choose and when questioning the most able pupils during lessons. As a result, an increased number of pupils achieve the higher standard in national tests in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

The previous report also mentioned providing pupils with opportunities to evaluate and improve their work. Leaders have worked hard to ensure that pupils have opportunities to respond to feedback and edit their work. For example, pupils in Year 6 are encouraged to amend the words that they had used in their writing. This has resulted in them producing work of a much higher standard.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Your leadership team seeks continuous improvement and, although outcomes have improved in writing, you remain focused on improving pupils’ writing in English and across subjects.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

You have also developed a broad curriculum, which enables pupils to study a range of subjects, including yoga and Sanskrit. Although you have begun to ensure that teachers assess the progress that pupils make in these subjects, there is still some further development required.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders have instilled a strong culture of safeguarding across the school. All adults understand their role in keeping pupils safe. The school goes beyond the necessary checks required of adults to ensure that they are suitable to work with pupils. Adults receive frequent training, including weekly updates, to ensure that the safety of pupils remains paramount. Adults act swiftly if they have concerns about a pupil’s safety, and they work with a range of agencies to ensure that pupils are kept safe.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Both the trust board and local school governors take their safeguarding duties seriously. They are all well trained and monitor the implementation of the safeguarding policy regularly. They ensure that the school is a safe environment for pupils to learn.

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Short inspection of Avanti Court Primary School

Pupils say that they feel very safe at school. Leaders in the school plan many opportunities for them to learn how to be safe. This includes learning about the dangers outside of school, like crossing the road. In lessons, teachers remind pupils about being safe and provide pupils with time to discuss safety issues. They are clear about what to do if they don’t feel safe.

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Inspection findings

 A key line of enquiry for this inspection related to the progress of the most able pupils in reading and mathematics. A review of the school’s latest assessment information, visits to classrooms and scrutiny of pupils’ work show that these pupils make good progress in reading and mathematics.  In 2018, high-attaining Year 6 pupils’ progress in mathematics and reading was above average. As a result, a higher proportion of pupils than that found nationally attained the expected and the high standard in both subjects.  The strong leadership in English and mathematics has been instrumental in driving these improvements. Leaders support teachers to help them plan activities so that the most able pupils are challenged. They track pupils’ progress very carefully, and intervene quickly if they are not making the progress that they should.  Children who start school in Reception with starting points above their peers are

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Inspection findings

encouraged straight away to challenge themselves through their own learning, or are directed to do so by the teacher. These high expectations continue throughout their time in the school.  Pupils with higher starting points say that they feel challenged by their teachers during lessons. During work scrutiny, it was apparent that these pupils were producing work that was above that expected for their age in many subjects, and especially in English, science and mathematics.  Secondly, we looked at the school’s work to promote high attendance. In the past, more pupils have been persistently absent from school than pupils nationally.  Attendance for all pupils has improved. This is due to the emphasis leaders have placed on the importance of good attendance. School leaders have worked hard with families to overcome any barriers to getting to school. The information that the school provided indicated that attendance is now better than other schools

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Inspection findings

nationally, and that fewer children are persistently absent from school.  The school has adopted a range of strategies to ensure that pupils attend school. The stimulating learning environment has resulted in children being eager to come to school. Also, pupils enjoy a range of rewards when their attendance is good.  School leaders have worked hard with families to overcome any barriers to getting to school. The information that the school provided indicated that attendance is now better than other schools nationally, and that fewer children are persistently absent from school.  My final line of enquiry related to the progress that disadvantaged pupils make across a range of subjects in key stage 1. The school has lower numbers of disadvantaged pupils than other schools nationally. However, historically, fewer of these pupils have met the national standard in English, mathematics and science by the end of Year 2.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection, review of the school’s internal data, book scrutiny and lesson observations indicated that disadvantaged pupils do not make slower progress than their peers. Although some disadvantaged pupils do not meet the expected standard for their age, this is not because of slow progress. The opposite is true, and disadvantaged pupils often make better progress than their peers.  Adults in the school work hard to ensure that all pupils are learning in classrooms which are rich with vocabulary. From the minute they start in nursery, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are encouraged to extend their vocabulary through targeted teaching from teachers and the additional adults. Teachers model the use of sophisticated vocabulary throughout the day. This was seen in Year 2, where pupils were being encouraged to use ‘wow’ words in their writing during an English lesson.  Leaders, including those responsible for governance, have high expectations of

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Inspection findings

pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. They monitor their progress regularly and frequently review the way they use the additional funds that they are given.

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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

 they further develop assessment of pupils’ outcomes in subjects other than English, mathematics and science  they continue to develop strategies to improve pupils’ writing in English and across subjects.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of Avanti Trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Redbridge. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During this inspection, we met with you, senior leaders, middle leaders and teachers. I met with several members of the governing body and representatives of the trust board. With members of your leadership team, we visited a range of classrooms and had the opportunity to speak to pupils and see their work. I also met with a group of pupils during the day.

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Information about the inspection

We took account of the 30 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and discussions were held with parents in the morning. A range of documentation was scrutinised, including the school’s self-evaluation and information about pupils’ current attainment and progress. The single central record and other safeguarding procedures and practices were also checked. We undertook a review of the school’s website.

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