Chadwell St Mary Primary School

Chadwell St Mary Primary School River View, Chadwell St Mary, Grays, Essex RM16 4DH

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Pupils, parents and staff recognise the improvements made by the school’s leaders. Typically, parents say they are pleased their children are learning well.  Leaders, including trustees, have raised their expectations of staff. Systems for improving teaching are thorough. Leaders check regularly that their strategies to improve teaching and learning are working. As a result, pupils achieve well.  The executive headteacher has created an effective leadership team. Leaders have secured the trust and confidence of the staff who are provided with effective training to develop their professional skills.  Teachers plan learning experiences across a variety of subjects that pupils find interesting. This helps to deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding.  The school’s values of self-responsibility, safety, perseverance and equality underpin its work. This contributes well to pupils’ good behaviour and positive attitudes to learning.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Safeguarding arrangements are secure. Pupils say they feel safe. Parents agree their children are well looked after.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress. Staff provide good support for pupils and plan activities that help to fill gaps in their knowledge and skills.  Children in the early years get off to a good start in Reception Year. They make good progress in all areas of learning.  Teachers do not consistently provide enough challenge for the most able pupils. This means these pupils are not given sufficient opportunity to deepen their understanding.  Recent improvements to the teaching of mathematics have helped pupils to become more fluent in their basic calculation skills. Leaders have rightly identified that opportunities to develop pupils’ mathematical reasoning skills are not as effective as they could be in every year group.  While leaders keep a close eye on how well

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

pupils are learning in core subjects such as English and mathematics, their assessments in other subjects are not as rigorous.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Enhance the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that: – more children in the early years exceed a good level of development – there is greater challenge for the most able pupils, including for more-able disadvantaged pupils, so that more achieve higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics.  Ensure that leaders at all levels, including trustees, make the same rigorous checks on pupils’ progress in the foundation subjects as they do in reading, writing and mathematics.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The executive headteacher and head of school lead the school’s work with resolve and determination. They have established a culture of aspiration for pupils’ learning and behaviour. All members of staff who responded to Ofsted’s online survey say they are proud to work at the school. They say leaders have created a climate of trust in which they are encouraged to be innovative in ways that suit their pupils.  Leaders at all levels, including trustees, have an accurate view of what the school does well and what needs improving, helping them to make necessary changes. This shows leaders have a good capacity to make further improvements.  Strong and robust systems are embedded for checking the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics. The information leaders gather informs staff training, which they receive at Chadwell St Mary or collectively across the trust’s two other primary schools. Staff value these opportunities

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

to develop professionally.  Similarly, teachers new to the profession are supported effectively to safeguard pupils and to develop and enhance their teaching skills.  The curriculum is planned carefully to ensure that it is broad and balanced. It is adapted to make sure pupils who are in danger of falling behind their peers are provided with help and support to catch up.  Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well through the curriculum. Pupils enjoy learning to play musical instruments, such as xylophones and clarinets. They appreciate the activities teachers arrange for them. Pupils recall with enthusiasm their learning from residential trips, visits to places such as the Tower of London and visitors to the school to experience drumming and dance.  Key to the effective curriculum is the work to develop pupils’ understanding of British values and what it means to be a British citizen. For example, pupils in Year 6

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

discussed, on the same day the European elections were taking place, what was meant by democracy and potential consequences for breaking the law. They talked about whether or not 16-year-olds should be able to vote in England as they do currently in Scotland.  Pupils’ behaviour has much improved because of the ethos, culture, personal and social education curriculum in the school. Incidents of prejudice are extremely rare. Pupils say staff act quickly and decisively when they do occur.  The leadership of support for pupils with SEND is effective. The SENCo has a strong vision for excellent provision and has the determination to follow it through. Most pupils make sound progress from their individual starting points.  Almost all parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and those who spoke with inspectors value the work of the school and its leaders. Several noted the improvements evident since the new senior leadership team was put in place.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

Most are pleased with their children’s progress and feel the staff are friendly and approachable. A small minority of parents expressed concern about their children having several teachers in a short period of time, but acknowledged that this had improved recently.  Parents are encouraged to join their children in ‘shared learning’. During the inspection, over half of the Year 2 pupils’ parents came into school to create a model of one of three notable Chadwell St Mary buildings. This created a thoroughly enjoyable and competitive occasion for all involved.  Effective use has been made of the primary physical education (PE) sports premium funding. Its use has led to more pupils participating in sporting competitions. The school makes good use of the trust’s transport to be able to attend sporting fixtures. Specialist staff model coaching for staff and this has helped teachers to develop their own expertise in teaching sport.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 The local authority has a positive relationship with the school and the trust. It has confidence in leaders to continue improving outcomes for pupils.  Leaders plan carefully to ensure equality of opportunity for different groups of pupils. Pupils’ standards in reading, writing and mathematics have rapidly improved in the past year.  The breakfast club has been instrumental in improving the attendance for individual pupils and families.  The pupil premium has been used effectively to ensure eligible pupils make rapid progress. Differences are diminishing between these pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils nationally. Even so, leaders have rightly identified that too few pupils are working at a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics and more needs to be done to challenge the most able pupils, including those who are also disadvantaged, to make certain they make the progress of which they are capable.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

 Leaders make sure teachers make good use of their assessments of what pupils know and can do. However, systems for assessing pupils’ knowledge and skills in all subjects which form the basis of the National Curriculum are not as strong as they are in English, mathematics and science. This means pupils are not as well prepared for the next stage in their education in these subjects.

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Governance of the school

 Trustees are ambitious for the school. They have secured a strong leadership team and work alongside senior leaders in taking decisive action to raise educational standards and improve pupils’ progress.  Trustees support senior leaders in tackling weak teaching. They make good use of resources and staff in other trust schools to develop teachers’ skills and expertise. Trustees check how successfully leaders are improving the quality of teaching by keeping an eye on pupils’ standards and progress.  Records of trust meetings indicate trustees hold senior leaders to account for their work.  Trustees manage the additional funding the school receives, including the pupil premium and the primary PE sports premium, effectively. They check that the pupil premium funding is targeted specifically to meet the needs of disadvantaged pupils. Trustees ensure that they know the sports premium is being used wisely to increase all

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Governance of the school

pupils’ physical activity and participation in sport.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders ensure that staff are fully aware of their responsibilities to safeguard pupils. Staff training is up to date and they understand the procedures in place to refer pupils if they have any concerns. Leaders and those with additional responsibility for safeguarding follow through referrals with persistence to reduce the risk of harm to pupils.  The school’s systems for checking the suitability of staff working with children meet requirements. All the necessary checks are carried out and carefully recorded.  Leaders are clear about their duty to keep pupils safe from risks of radicalisation and extremism. The personal, social and emotional programme is planned systematically, from Years 1 to 6, to provide opportunities for pupils to think for themselves and be able to express their own views.  All parents who responded to Parent View during the inspection agreed or strongly

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Safeguarding

agreed their children were safe and well cared for at the school. As one parent said the school gave them, ‘a feeling of knowing and caring for your child.’

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

 Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and of what they can achieve. They expect pupils to work with positive attitudes. Pupils respond well to this challenge. Most pupils take great pride in the presentation of their work. Improvements to handwriting throughout the year are clearly evident.  Teachers provide clear models and explanations in their teaching, so pupils know precisely what is expected of them.  Technology is used effectively to engage pupils and this helps to maintain their interest.  Teachers use questions effectively to check pupils’ understanding. They reshape tasks based on what pupils know and what they need to learn next. Pupils’ books show they are given plenty of opportunities to practise and consolidate new learning.  Pupils with SEND are supported well in lessons. Adults break learning down into smaller steps and provide useful reminders, such as word lists, to support learning. They

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

prepare pupils well by teaching them the vocabulary they will need in future lessons. This enables them to fully participate in lessons with their classmates.  Adults know their pupils well and target those who do not yet fully grasp a new idea or who have significant gaps in their knowledge and skills. They encourage pupils who need extra help to use resources to support their learning. For example, pupils used cubes to learn about multiplication, working out different ways of making 24.  Teachers set homework for pupils that consolidates learning in the classroom. It includes tasks such as reading regularly at home, learning spellings and multiplication facts.  Effective use is made of chances for pupils to work with other pupils across the trust. Each week, the most able pupils meet together for the ‘Brilliant Club’ to work with their peers on joint projects. This helps to deepen their thinking. Some pupils, whose

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

behaviour is a barrier to learning, attend a ‘Learning Through Sport’ programme. Here, pupils visit one of the secondary schools in the trust, access the sporting facilities and learn English and mathematics skills as part of the visit. This programme has been highly successful in improving their behaviour and engaging them in learning.  Teachers do not always ensure that the work they plan for the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, challenges them sufficiently well or encourages them to think deeply enough. Consequently, they do not make as much progress as they could.  Improvements to the teaching of basic skills in mathematics have been effective in improving pupils’ fluency in all year groups. However, leaders have, rightly, recognised that opportunities for pupils to develop mathematics reasoning skills are variable. While they are strong in Years 5 and 6, they are not as systematically and effectively taught

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Pupils say they feel safe in school. They told inspectors bullying used to be a problem but is much better now. They have every confidence that staff will deal with bullying quickly and well.  Pupils have a comprehensive understanding of keeping safe when using the internet. For example, they know not to give out personal details, engage in chat rooms or play age-restricted games.  The meaning of ‘County Lines’ was understood by pupils who spoke to inspectors. They were fully aware of the dangers of becoming involved in gangs and the potential consequences.  Pupils enjoy coming to school and learning. They forge strong relationships with adults and with each other. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 appreciate the responsibility of being playground PALS, helping to, in their words, ‘sort things out’ in the playground. They lead playtime games, assist the lunchtime supervisors and help to clear away. Pupils

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Personal development and welfare

told inspectors this helps them to develop skills they will need in later life in order ‘to become responsible adults’.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  Pupils behave well as they move in and around the school. Most show positive attitudes to learning in lessons and are responsive to adult guidance. Where teaching is not effective, a few pupils lose interest and concentration. This slows their learning.  Systems to reward good behaviour are effective. Pupils say, and parents and staff agree, that most pupils behave well. Each class sets its own rules, based on the school’s core values. School records show there are fewer incidents of poor behaviour because staff manage behaviour consistently well.  Successful use is made of alternative provision at Deneholm Primary School. A very small minority of pupils who have social, emotional and mental health needs are supported well. They are given additional help and nurtured so that they are better able to manage their feelings. This has led to significant improvements to their

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Behaviour

behaviour and means that they are increasingly able to access learning alongside their peers.  Systems to promote pupils’ attendance are rigorous. Leaders are tenacious in addressing poor attendance of individual pupils. Staff provide help and guidance to support individual families. Attendance is broadly average and improving.  Pupils enjoy socialising while eating a healthy breakfast. They enjoy playing games with each other, making models with construction equipment and learning new skills at the breakfast club. One pupil enthusiastically showed the lead inspector, with obvious pride, a recently-crafted woollen pompom.  Pupils’ punctuality is good.  No pupils have been permanently excluded in this academic year.

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Outcomes for pupils Good

 Published information shows that pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 1 in reading, writing and mathematics dropped from above average in 2017 to below average in 2018. Pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 2 was broadly average. Pupils’ progress, by the time they left the school in Year 6, was below average in reading and mathematics and average in writing.  Outcomes for pupils currently in the school are improving rapidly.  Phonics teaching is regular and systematic. Outcomes for the Year 1 phonics screening check are broadly average. Pupils who did not reach the required standard in Year 1 are given extra support to catch up. Most pupils, by the end of Year 2, are able to use phonics accurately and confidently to sound out unknown words.  As a result of good teaching, an increasing proportion of pupils currently attending the school are working at or above the standards set for each age group in the National

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Outcomes for pupils Good

Curriculum. Pupils in danger of falling behind are given extra help to fill gaps in their knowledge and skills. This means more pupils are better prepared for the next stage in their education.  Leaders identified most pupils did not read often enough for pleasure. As a result, teachers have changed the way they teach reading and introduced a ‘DEAR’ time every day (‘Drop Everything And Read’). Teachers plan the teaching of specific reading skills more explicitly. They check pupils’ understanding of texts regularly to ensure that reading materials are more carefully matched to pupils’ abilities. Good use is made of volunteers who visit school to hear pupils read. Consequently, pupils are making strong progress in reading.  Sound progress is evident in pupils’ books. Pupils are proud of their achievements. More recent work is neater and more carefully presented than it was at the start of this academic year. The improved quality of pupils’ writing is clearly evident. For example,

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Outcomes for pupils Good

one pupil’s writing developed from extremely short, simple sentences at the start of the year to writing by Easter, ‘I was in the third-class kitchen when it happened. It was the loudest bang I had ever heard, water was flooding in. I was worried.’  Pupils with SEND or who have an education and health care plan are supported effectively. They make strong progress. Those who need it are provided with additional support at points of transition, for example to secondary school. They are given extra help, focused on the key skills they will need in their new school.  Historically, disadvantaged pupils did not achieve as well as non-disadvantaged pupils. Leaders have ensured the pupil premium is used more effectively to remove any barriers eligible pupils have to their learning. Recent assessment information indicates they are catching up quickly with other pupils nationally.  Although pupils’ standards and progress are improving rapidly, fewer than those

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Outcomes for pupils Good

nationally achieve higher standards, including disadvantaged pupils, particularly in mathematics.

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Early years provision Good

 Children enter their Reception Year with skills that are broadly typical for their age. Their communication and language, physical, personal, social and emotional development varies considerably and is less well developed when they join the school.  Although outcomes in 2018 were an improvement on the previous year, the proportion of children reaching a good level of development was below average.  Learning journeys of children currently in their Reception Year, show they have made good progress from their individual starting points. This means they are better prepared for the start of Year 1. Over the year, children have learned to write increasingly recognisable letters and simple words. Now, nearing the end of their year in the Reception class, they are writing in simple sentences, putting capital letters and full stops in the right places.  Similarly, children’s mathematical development has progressed well. Adults teach new

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Early years provision Good

ideas and plan lots of different ways in which children can reinforce and develop newly acquired skills. One more-able child, having learned recently about doubling, was helped to work out and write doubles from 1 to 4096.  Children with SEND are supported well. Adults receive specialised training to support children’s specific needs effectively. One parent who spoke to inspectors commented that her child had ‘come on in leaps and bounds’ because of the help and guidance from adults.  Children choose from a wide variety of activities set up by staff to develop their skills across all areas of learning. There is a particular emphasis on tasks which develop the skills children need to practise.  Good relationships in early years supports children’s learning well. Adults provide effective role models in communication and language. Their interactions show they give plenty of opportunities for children to practise and rehearse language skills.

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Early years provision Good

Children respond well to adult guidance. They follow instructions readily and behave well.  Leadership and management of early years is effective. Children are kept safe and are happy at school. Leaders are clear about what is going well and what aspects of the provision need to be improved. This year, a new electronic system of recording children’s achievement has been introduced. As a result, more parents are checking how well their children are learning at school and adding their own contributions to the record of their children’s learning at home.  The teaching of reading has improved this year as a result of a new approach. Phonics is taught regularly and systematically as before, but with increased opportunities to put their phonics knowledge into practice by reading more often. This has increased children’s confidence, fluency and interest in reading and in books generally.  Children eligible for pupil premium funding are supported well through targeted, good-

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Early years provision Good

quality teaching. They make good progress from their starting points.  Leaders have correctly identified that while there has been an improvement in outcomes for children at the end of the Reception Year, more could exceed a good level of development and be even better prepared for Year 1.

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Email address mailto: admin@csm.swecet.org

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Chadwell St Mary Primary School became a member of the South West Essex Community Education Trust on the 1 September 2016. When its predecessor school, Chadwell St Mary Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged as good overall.  Trustees are responsible for holding the school’s leadership team to account.  The executive headteacher took up her post in September 2017. A head of school was appointed in January 2019 who has the responsibility for the day-to-day management of the school.  The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. It consists of seven classes, one in each year group.  The proportion of pupils with SEND and who have an education, health and care plan is similar to the national average.  The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals and pupil premium funding is well above the national average.  The majority of pupils are of White British heritage.

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Information about this school

 The school makes use of alternative provision at Deneholm Primary School.  A breakfast club, managed by the trustees, operates on the school site.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons in all classes. All observations were carried out jointly with senior leaders.  During visits to lessons, inspectors talked to pupils about their work. They looked at pupils’ books to see how well they are learning. Three pupils read to the lead inspector and talked about how they are learning to read.  Inspectors observed and talked to pupils at breaktime and lunchtime, in school and on the playground. Groups of pupils talked to inspectors about their learning and shared with them some of their work.  Inspectors visited pupils as they attended the breakfast club and accompanied the SENCo on a visit to Deneholm Primary School to look at the school’s use of this alternative provision.  Inspectors held discussions with the executive headteacher, head of school, SENCo, the chair of trustees and the chief executive officer of the trust. They spoke to middle leaders and to those who work across the trust to improve the quality of teaching. The

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Information about this inspection

lead inspector spoke to those with responsibility for safeguarding.  The lead inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  A range of documentation was scrutinised. This included the school’s website, policies, pupils’ assessment information, leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and plans for improvement work. Inspectors looked at the school’s records of behaviour and attendance.  Inspectors took account of 44 responses to Ofsted’s online parent survey, Parent View, 24 responses to the staff survey and 25 responses to the pupils’ survey. Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the day as they brought their children to school and briefly watched parents sharing their children’s learning in Year 2.

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Inspection team

Sarah Warboys, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Linda Bartlett Ofsted Inspector guidance ‘Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. www.gov.uk/pupil-premium-information-for-schools-and- alternative-provision-settings .

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Inspection team

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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Inspection team

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted .

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Inspection team

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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