Cheam Park Farm Primary Academy

Cheam Park Farm Primary Academy Molesey Drive, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9UU

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Since opening as an academy, senior leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching and assessment to improve pupils’ progress has been their central goal. The impact of this work is now evident in all year groups, including the early years.  The governing body has provided the school with a clear direction as well as a good balance of support and challenge. They have been involved in the development of the school from its onset, because they understand the needs of the pupils who attend.  Teaching is outstanding and provides a careful balance of work, which not only interests the pupils but also makes them want to try hard to succeed.  Teachers are proud to be involved in the development of the school and appreciate the investment in their training that leaders make, as well as that of the LEO Academy Trust.  Teaching develops pupils’ skills strongly in reading, writing and mathematics, and also in other subjects, including art, physical education

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

(PE) and music.  Staff know their pupils very well and working relationships are excellent, helping pupils to become confident learners. This prepares them very well for secondary school.  Pupils in all year groups make consistently strong progress. Leaders make effective use of monitoring records to create small-group and individual teaching sessions that quickly address any potential underachievement.  Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well because care is taken to plan work that meets their individual needs. Several pupils also receive helpful additional support from teaching assistants.  Pupils show great kindness towards others. They are very well behaved and willing to work hard. Leaders ensure that pupils are very well cared for, and make excellent provision for their personal development.  School leaders have worked effectively with parents and carers to ensure that they work

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

together to support the pupils’ attendance, which is above average.  Leadership in the early years is outstanding. The provision in the Nursery and Reception classes supports children’s excellent progress so that they are very well prepared for Year 1.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to ensure that pupils make excellent progress across all subjects by maintaining a focus on developing the school’s approach to teaching and use of assessment.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

 Since the creation of the school, the headteacher and other school leaders have been highly effective in developing the quality of education that pupils receive. The leadership team works effectively to help pupils attain to the best of their abilities across all subjects of the national curriculum. As a result, outcomes are high, and pupils do very well.  Leaders hold a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Their plans for improvement focus on the areas in need of most attention. A good example of their work has been the recent focus on improving reading progress for the school’s disadvantaged pupils. The impact of creating a responsive approach to the needs of this group is shown by the clear improvements in current pupils’ progress.  Teachers are very appreciative of the investment made in their training by senior leaders. This has resulted in high-quality teaching of reading, writing and mathematics

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

and a range of other important subject areas, including, PE, art and music.  The wider leadership team includes subject leaders and they contribute enthusiastically to the school’s work. They diligently take responsibility for curriculum subjects and ensure that their subject knowledge is used in training and development opportunities for staff, as well as keeping a close eye on the quality of work being produced in lessons.  Leaders use assessment information skilfully to hold teachers to account for their pupils’ progress. Leaders monitor standards and progress judiciously to give them accurate information to identify and support pupils at risk of underachievement. Teachers use feedback well from senior leaders to improve their planning and teaching.  Leaders use the pupil premium funding well to support the learning of disadvantaged pupils. Specific help for those pupils who need to catch up forms the basis of this work.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

Consequently, disadvantaged pupils’ progress compares favourably with that of other pupils nationally.  The leadership of SEND is well supported by the school’s inclusion programme and is effective. Leaders understand the individual needs of pupils and use assessment information effectively to monitor the progress of these pupils and ensure that they receive the help they need to make good progress from a range of external professionals.  The primary physical education (PE) and sport premium enables the school to provide specialist teaching which the pupils enjoy, both in lessons and outside-hours activities. Pupils also benefit from a good range of clubs and unique curricular sessions such as martial arts, hockey and cricket. These opportunities, as well as promoting pupils’ fitness and enjoyment of physical activity, also encourage them to take up sport in one of the school’s clubs.  The school makes good provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

development. This is helping pupils to acquire a thorough understanding of life in modern Britain and is linked to the school’s values. They show great tolerance and respect for one another, both when working and playing.  The curriculum at Cheam Park Farm is very well planned, with pupils’ enjoyment of their work kept at its core. Each term, pupils work from a practical start to a topic to ‘whet their appetite’. Following this exciting start, pupils then are immersed in deeper study across the full range of national curriculum subjects. This approach is proving successful for the school and leaders monitor its impact carefully.

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Governance of the school

 The local governing board members routinely ask leaders searching questions about how well pupils are learning, the quality of teaching, pupils’ behaviour and safeguarding arrangements. As a result, they are confident that they have an accurate view of the school’s performance and are clear about the priorities for future development. They are currently working with leaders and trustees to ensure that the school is fully prepared to change the leadership structure in September 2019.  The headteacher provides the school’s governing body with comprehensive information about all aspects of the school’s performance. In addition, governors complete a range of activities in school to ensure that they have accurate first-hand knowledge of the school’s work. For example, they regularly spend time in lessons with senior leaders, visit assemblies and look at pupils’ work.  The MAT and the local governing board have developed a very effective two-way

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Governance of the school

process for evaluating the school’s performance. A continuous stream of information and analyses between the board and the Academy Trust ensure that everyone is well informed about the school’s progress.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  Leaders ensure that all members of staff are well trained in child protection and have the necessary skills and knowledge to promote pupils’ welfare. The school’s policies and practice are thorough. A strong culture of safeguarding exists in the school. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers, as well as external professionals, to ensure that all pupils are supported and are as safe as possible. Key staff have ensured that safer recruitment training and practices are up to date.  Pupils are very confident that the school is a safe place; parents and staff at the school who responded to Ofsted’s surveys or spoke with an inspector agree with this view.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

 Teaching is of a consistently high standard across all year groups. Staff have extremely high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Resources to promote learning are used well and this includes the additional adults that make significant contributions in lessons. The working relationships between staff and pupils is very positive and pupils find this helpful.  Teachers know their pupils very well and this ensures that they plan learning with care so that the lessons meet the needs of pupils across the full range of attainment. Support for pupils with SEND is also very effective, with tailored work motivating them to try hard. Pupils know that the staff want them to do well. In turn, this has developed pupils’ extremely positive attitudes towards learning.  The school has been increasingly effective in its approach to the teaching of early reading skills. This has helped to ensure that precise teaching supports pupils in

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

acquiring a secure knowledge of phonics. This helps pupils to use phonics to decode words increasingly accurately and fluently, which in turn enables them to make a very sure start in learning to read with clarity and expression.  The teaching of writing is effective in making tasks challenging and interesting for all pupils. Frequently, it is linked to other subjects of the curriculum and this helps pupils learn writing skills in a deeply practical context, which helps them achieve well. The presentation of work has been an area of development and has shown recent dramatic improvement and shows the great pride that pupils take in their achievement.  Staff have improved their teaching by making good use of the regular training and useful mentoring they receive from the LEO Academy Trust. They are able to teach across the full range of national curriculum subjects in a way that retains the practical

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

approach that pupils at Cheam Park enjoy. Teachers are very proud of the professional way in which they are treated by senior leaders and benefit greatly from their association with the LEO Academy Trust.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils work and play together harmoniously. This is because they are taught to show empathy towards each other and to demonstrate respect and understanding.  Through the curriculum, pupils develop a strong awareness of different faiths, ethnic backgrounds and cultures. Pupils demonstrate considerate attitudes for each other, even if they hold different beliefs or points of view. A number of pupils hold positions of responsibility within the school, such as through the work of the Eco-Squad, which has made suggestions to improve the outdoor environment.  Pupils say that bullying does not take place at the school but that, were it to occur, they know how to respond and the systems that exist to support them. Teachers ensure that pupils are knowledgeable about how to keep safe, for example while using the internet.

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Personal development and welfare

 Through different subjects, including science, pupils are made aware of key aspects of keeping healthy, such as the importance of a good diet and regular exercise.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils conduct themselves impeccably, both in classrooms and around the school site.  Leaders have continued to work effectively to maintain a great sense of community in the school. This is evident in how the pupils care for one another. While working and playing in the lunchtime break, a calm, friendly and inquisitive atmosphere pervades the school.  The school communicates well with parents and carers, who are overwhelmingly positive about the school’s work. One parent’s comment, typical of others, was that ‘Teachers are very supportive and provide a well-balanced learning environment where children feel confident enough to express their views and opinions.’  Last year, attendance was above average when compared with similar schools. The school has maintained a focus on raising attendance through developing partnerships with parents, as well as going the ‘extra mile’ for parents who live some distance from

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

 Standards at key stage 2 have remained high since the school opened in 2016. In 2018, the proportion of pupils attaining the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was above the national average. This represented very strong progress. More than double the national average of the most able pupils attained the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics.  In 2018, the proportion of Year 1 pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check was above the national average. This is because of the school’s clear commitment to getting children reading as soon as they start at the school.  Current pupils are making very good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is shown by the school’s carefully moderated assessments of their progress over time, work in their books and their learning in classrooms. This is the result of excellent teaching over time.  Throughout the school, great emphasis is placed on providing opportunities for pupils

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Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

to work in a practical and meaningful way across all subject areas. This has resulted in work of an excellent standard. This is particularly true of art, music and PE, and the writing quality in religious education is also of a high standard.  Pupils clearly enjoy reading, and leaders have been quick to implement an approach to the teaching of reading that ensures that text of a very high quality is available to pupils wherever literacy skills development is a key focus. Older and younger pupils spoke about their favourite authors and their reading record books showed that regular reading at home is well established.  Careful use of the pupil premium funding is helping to support the good progress that disadvantaged pupils make in all curriculum areas. Their progress in writing is now improving because of the school’s careful analysis and the resulting actions.  As a result of effective support, pupils with SEND are fully included in all aspects of

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Early years provision Outstanding

 The leadership of the early years is outstanding. The leaders show a clear understanding of the children’s developmental needs. As a result, children learn well and make very strong progress from their wide variety of starting points.  The proportion of children attaining a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year has shown steady progress over time and is now slightly above that seen nationally. Children develop very positive attitudes to school life in the early years and are very well prepared for moving into Year 1.  The school has worked successfully to raise disadvantaged children’s achievement. They are now doing better than their peers nationally.  Children in the Nursery class are making excellent progress with their key skills. At the time of the inspection, during a role play about a holiday trip, one boy was telling his teacher not to choose the pretend ice lolly which had coloured sprinkles on the top due

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Early years provision Outstanding

to its high sugar content!  Reception children are showing tremendous progress with their skills in number, reading and writing. Many are able to write clearly, at some length and use basic punctuation, including full stops and capital letters, with several children choosing to write ‘chapter books’ about their topic area and gleefully reading it to the teacher.  Staff create a very welcoming, kind and inclusive learning environment, where children thrive in activities that they find enjoyable. Very skilful teaching ensures that children gain basic skills, working independently or with their peers. Work is planned very carefully so that it can be adapted to meet individual needs. Careful records of learning are kept that support children’s excellent progress.  Children are excited by the interesting topics that staff plan for them. They settle swiftly to work and are very well behaved and respectful towards one another.

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Early years provision Outstanding

Teachers’ expectations of impeccable conduct result in children who settle very quickly to their work, show kindness towards one another and engage thoroughly in the work that is planned for them. Teachers are also very adept at enabling children to develop their own interests when appropriate, so they gain a deep knowledge of the world.  All the classrooms are exciting and well resourced. Everywhere, there are resources that children can use independently to help them develop their numeracy and literacy skills. Everything is well labelled with pictures and words so that by the time the children are in the Reception class they are capable of choosing their own resources best suited to the work they are doing.  Children are very well cared for and their well-being is of paramount importance. The school has developed effective partnership working with parents, who receive regular updates of the progress made by their children. The school’s ‘Learning Journeys’ are a

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Early years provision Outstanding

useful piece of assessment which also become a prized keepsake at the end of the key stage when the children transition to Year 1.

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Appropriate authority The board of trustees

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School details

Email address cpfpoffice@leoacademytrust.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school was created in 2016 following the amalgamation of two schools. At the same time, it joined the LEO Academy Trust.  The school is much larger than most primary schools. The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average. Just over a quarter of the pupils speak English as an additional language.  The school is on two sites, one housing key stage 2 pupils while younger pupils attend the other.  Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. The largest group of children are from White British backgrounds, making up over half of the school, with pupils from Asian or Asian British and other Asian backgrounds making up the next most sizeable group.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited classrooms in all year groups; several visits were carried out jointly with members of the school’s leadership team.  The inspection team heard pupils read in Year 2. They talked to pupils in classrooms and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors looked at a range of documents, including the school’s improvement plan and records of pupils’ behaviour, safeguarding and attendance. They also scrutinised assessment information and records of meetings of the governing body.  A meeting was held with the chair and the vice-chair of the governing body. A meeting was also held with the chief executive officer of the LEO Trust. Several meetings were held with the headteacher and deputy headteachers.  The views of parents were obtained through informal discussions, the 104 responses to the online Parent View survey and the 25 responses for the online free-text facility.  The views of staff were examined through the 61 responses to the staff survey.

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Information about this inspection

 The views of pupils were gained through formal and informal conversations and examining the 121 responses to the pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Tim McLoughlin, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Meena Walia 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

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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