St Stephen's C E Primary School

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

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Mrs Elizabeth Bachour Headteacher St Stephen’s C E Primary School Winchester Road Twickenham TW1 1LF

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Short inspection of St Stephen’s C E Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 5 December 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 Stephen’s C E 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 St Stephen’s C E Primary School

You lead with relentless ambition to secure the best possible outcomes for your pupils. You clearly inspire your staff and they, in turn, ensure that they give the achievement of every pupil the highest priority. Leaders at all levels are highly effective in their roles. This includes the school’s governors, who have a very secure understanding of the school’s strengths and areas in need of further work. This is because they visit the school regularly and have the knowledge and skills necessary to challenge you and your staff effectively about the quality of education provided. You are highly analytical and reflective. This means that areas for improvement identified at the time of the last inspection linked to the outcomes for disadvantaged pupils have been addressed promptly and systematically.

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Short inspection of St Stephen’s C E Primary School

High-quality learning experiences go hand-in-hand with the promotion of pupils’ welfare. The care and attention given to pupils’ personal needs underpin their very effective learning. Consequently, pupils are happy and keen to come to school and attend very regularly. They clearly enjoy their day, engaging with enthusiasm in the challenging learning and inspiring curriculum staff provide. . Safeguarding is effective.

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Short inspection of St Stephen’s C E Primary School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Keeping pupils safe is an integral part of the school’s work. You and your staff give safeguarding a high priority and are very mindful of the potential risks to pupils. You ensure that all staff and governors receive training to develop their understanding and skills in safeguarding. As a result, staff are alert to any potential difficulties that pupils and their families may be facing.

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Short inspection of St Stephen’s C E Primary School

Leaders keep all safeguarding matters under regular review. You use the curriculum to support pupils in understanding concepts such as travel safety and stranger danger. It is also used to support the pupils in their emotional well-being. They speak highly of the opportunities that they have had to think about, and discuss tolerance and diversity. They believe it has had a very positive effect on how they feel about other people and the world.

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Short inspection of St Stephen’s C E Primary School

The single central record for pre-recruitment checks meets requirements and is checked at regular intervals by the governors. Safeguarding policies and procedures are also reviewed regularly. Pupils reported that they feel safe in school and know who to speak to if they have any concerns.

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Inspection findings

 My first line of enquiry focused on how well the curriculum meets the needs of individual pupils. This was because it is an area that the school has worked on since the previous inspection. Leaders have refined the curriculum in all subject areas and it is broad and balanced, giving all subjects equal weighting and importance.  All curriculum leaders demonstrate strong subject knowledge. They use this understanding of what pupils should be able to produce in their subject to monitor progress and impact in their areas of responsibility. Topics are designed so that subjects fit together and offer maximum opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links. Evidence across a range of books shows that this approach produces high-quality, in-depth pieces of work. Pupils have a deep understanding of what has been learned. As leaders monitor the curriculum effectively they have ensured clear progression through year groups in all subjects.

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Inspection findings

 Art and music outcomes are as strong as those in history, geography and science. The pupils have access to high-quality sports teaching and resources. They speak highly of the difference that learning in all these subjects makes to their confidence and skills. They also enjoy the opportunities given to compete and perform.  The extra-curricular trips and visits that are linked to the curriculum areas are properly used to enrich understanding. A Year 5 trip to a Victorian school provided examples of life at the time and this newly acquired insight shows clearly in the quality of pupils’ writing on this subject. These planned experiences have helped embed subject-specific and technical vocabulary, although this is an area that the school feels needs continued work.  My second line of enquiry focused on leaders’ continuing priority to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils, especially in mathematics. This was an area

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Inspection findings

for improvement identified at the previous inspection. The proportions attaining the expected standard and the higher standard by the end of key stage 2 were greater than for all pupils nationally in 2018.  The school’s approach to high-quality class teaching, in conjunction with well- targeted intervention, supports the strong progress of all pupils from their starting points. Teachers know disadvantaged pupils well and quickly identify where they have misconceptions or are struggling, and take action accordingly. This means that they are now working in line with their peers.  Leaders and those responsible for governance have clear oversight of outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. They have made a commitment since the previous inspection to work systematically to ensure that appropriate time and resources are attributed to overcoming any barriers to learning that might pertain for this group. Evidence in books shows that this approach is highly successful.

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Inspection findings

 My final line of enquiry focused on the teaching and learning of writing. This was because leaders have been working to increase attainment by the end of Year 2 to ensure that greater proportions of children reach the expected or higher standard.  Leaders have taken a systematic approach to raising standards in writing that supports teaching and learning in the classroom. We saw examples of strong practice in all classes visited. Pupils display high levels of engagement and resilience in writing tasks. The texts chosen to support the writing process are challenging and the vocabulary is beginning to be stretching. There is evidence in books sampled of pupils demonstrating that they have used all of these strategies to produce high-quality outcomes.  The clear assessment systems in place support pupils in understanding what they need to do to improve further. There is evidence of well-placed feedback and

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Inspection findings

opportunities for discussion that promote a culture of high expectations. Pupils’ books show that they redraft and edit their work regularly. This produces increasingly sophisticated and polished pieces of work from even the youngest pupils.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:  teachers increase the explicit teaching of vocabulary in all curriculum areas in order to improve attainment for all groups of pupils.

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Next steps for the school

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

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Information about the inspection

I held meetings with you, senior leaders and other members of staff. I met with five governors, including the chair. I also spoke with a representative of the local authority and of the diocese. I met with pupils from key stage 1 and key stage 2. I visited classrooms across the school with senior leaders to gather evidence about our key lines of enquiry and to look at pupils’ work. I considered documents, including the school’s self-evaluation and development plan, information about the use of pupil premium funding, information about pupils’ progress and documents related to safeguarding. I also looked at information on the school’s website. I analysed the confidential responses to the online inspection surveys from 256 pupils and 44 members of staff. I also took account of the views of the 208 parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, including 199 free-text responses.

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