Manor Community Primary School

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

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Mrs Sarah Smith Head of School Manor Community Primary School Keary Road Swanscombe Kent DA10 0BU

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 31 October 2018 together with Ofsted Inspector Mrs Fisher-Pink, 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 November 2013.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You have a passionate commitment to securing the very best provision for the pupils of Manor Community Primary School. You also have a very well-informed understanding of the strengths and needs of the school and the community it serves. You have used this as a basis to look outwards across the trust and beyond to build the skills, knowledge and experience you need to drive the school forward. Together with other leaders and the community you have ensured that improvement initiatives are relevant and sharply focused. Leaders monitor and review pupils’ progress effectively to ensure that they have an impact on pupils’ outcomes. As a result, standards in reading, writing and mathematics are high across the school. You rightly aspire to raise standards across the wider curriculum to similar levels. Your current focus on extending investigative work across the

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

curriculum has been well chosen to extend the more able pupils, who sometimes do not demonstrate the same high rates of progress as other pupils.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

Governors are effective partners in school improvement. They are experienced, committed and well supported by the wider trust. Structures and systems are developed well so that governors are well informed. They ask a wide range of searching questions. Governors supplement the information they receive by regular visits to see things for themselves and by inviting staff and pupils to present information at meetings. This helps them to hold leaders to account effectively, providing both support and challenge. Pupils are proud of their school. They thrive because they know that their voice is valued. Partnerships with pupils permeate all levels of school life. Staff carefully and skilfully build pupils’ confidence and resilience as learners. As a result, pupils’ are secure and happy. This is evident in the way they present their work, conduct themselves and engage in their learning. Parents appreciate the high levels of care

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

and commitment shown by the staff to their children. Those who wrote on the Ofsted survey, Parent View, commented on how their children were ‘very well looked after’.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

You have maintained the strengths identified at the previous inspection. Leadership is highly effective and has been further strengthened by working within the trust, which the school has joined since the previous inspection. Achievement in reading, writing and mathematics is consistently high. In the end-of-key-stage national assessments for Years 2 and 6, pupils’ attainment is typically higher than in other schools nationally. Pupils make good progress from their starting points, including disadvantaged pupils. However, the most able pupils do not progress as rapidly from their starting points as other pupils.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

You have addressed the previous inspection recommendations. Pupils across the school are independent well-motivated learners. They have regular opportunities for computing work, including work on e-safety, which was evident in their books. Pupils develop secure phonics skills and apply these proficiently to help them with their reading.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Processes and systems for recruitment are clear and follow appropriate guidelines and documentation. All necessary training for staff is in place. Leaders respond well to the regular safeguarding audits, acting on any advice and reviewing its effectiveness. This helps to ensure that any safety needs, particularly those pertaining to the large school site, are addressed swiftly.

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Short inspection of Manor Community Primary School

All staff and parents who completed the surveys felt that pupils were safe at school. Child protection is at the heart of the school. Concerns are reported, recorded and quickly resolved. Work with other agencies is effective. The family support team builds strong relationships with families. This helps to provide those who occasionally need help with the necessary information and support. It also helps to keep pupils safe.

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Inspection findings

 During the inspection we looked together at pupils’ attendance, the progress of the most able pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEN) and pupils’ behaviour. Attendance is improving. Strategies to support pupils and their families in understanding the importance of regular school attendance are individualised, effective and regularly reviewed. While overall attendance is improving, there are some groups of pupils, such as disadvantaged pupils, for whom regular school attendance remains a challenge.  Currently, the most able pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The mathematics and English leaders have implemented effective actions to raise outcomes, for example by developing mathematical reasoning, introducing pupil reviews and increasing problem-solving activities.  Pupils told us that they enjoy their learning and feel sufficiently challenged by the

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Inspection findings

tasks that their teachers set them. This was also seen in the mathematics and writing books of the most able pupils. Nevertheless, the most able pupils are not systematically challenged across other curriculum areas. Currently there is not sufficiently well-developed work across the wider curriculum, for example in science. This means that the most able pupils do not experience the stretch that they need to demonstrate and develop their understanding in these subjects.  Subject leaders share the high aspirations of other leaders. They are benefiting from the support of the trust in developing skills to monitor pupils’ progress across the curriculum. Together with leaders they have ensured that the curriculum is designed effectively around the needs of the pupils. For example, there is an emphasis on speaking and listening and on enquiry.  A clear curriculum structure has been planned to help pupils develop the subject-

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Inspection findings

specific skills they need. For example, a newly appointed leader of science is in the process of developing the subject across the school. However, opportunities to develop writing and mathematical skills across the wider curriculum are not consistent across the school.  Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are supported well. Their progress is tracked carefully and reviewed regularly. This helps to ensure that most pupils are making good progress from their starting points in relation to their individual targets. Strong partnerships with parents and other agencies support pupils’ needs well. Parents appreciate this. A typical comment on the Ofsted survey, Parent View, summed this up when it said, ‘The SEN team have been particularly brilliant over the past few years, putting in strategies and interventions which are really making a difference.’  Throughout the inspection behaviour around the school and in lessons was

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Inspection findings

exemplary. Pupils were polite, courteous and respectful. Those working in pairs or groups included and supported each other well. Pupils contributed in a well- reasoned and articulate manner to their lessons. They enjoyed the many opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning, for example by developing and evaluating their work during peer review.  Pupils are supported well in developing appropriate behaviour by skilled staff, who have ensured that the behaviour policy is effective and understood. Exclusion rates have fallen to be below national proportions. Younger pupils are inspired by achieving sparks and earning ‘Manor money’ to spend. They understand the traffic light system and explained to me that being on red is a suitable deterrent for them. Leaders monitor behaviour patterns regularly and share results with governors. On the very rare occasions when behaviour is unacceptable, it is managed appropriately. Pupils told me that bullying is rare and

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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

 the wider curriculum is fully developed so that all pupils, but particularly the most able, are well prepared for the next stages of their education.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Kent. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, we met regularly together. I also met with the chief executive officer of the trust, the chair of the governing body and with staff. I reviewed documentation including information about pupils’ achievement, the school improvement plan and safeguarding checks, policies and procedures. Inspectors visited classes across the school and worked alongside school leaders. In lessons, we observed pupils’ learning, looked at their books, heard them read and spoke to pupils about their work. We had meetings with pupils to gather their views of the school. I took into account the views of parents I met on the playground, and considered 27 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including 11 free-text responses. I also analysed 19 responses to the Ofsted staff survey and 48 responses to the pupil survey.

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