De Havilland Primary School

De Havilland Primary School Travellers Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 8TQ

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders have not acted quickly enough to prevent a persistent decline in outcomes over a period of years.  Leaders have not done enough to improve the quality of teaching. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low.  Disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not supported well enough. Leaders do not make effective use of additional funding to improve the progress of these pupils.  The teaching of phonics is not effective in key stage 1. It does not enable pupils to quickly become confident and fluent readers.  Pupils’ writing skills develop too slowly.  In a few classes, teachers give pupils good direction about their work and how to improve their basic skills. But this is not typical.  Assessment processes are weak and do not give school leaders or teachers clarity about what pupils know and can do.  Governors do not hold leaders to account for

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

the achievement of pupils. They do not question the information they receive enough.  Leaders and the local authority have not evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of the school accurately. Improvement planning is not sufficiently focused on improving pupils’ outcomes.  Middle leaders are in the early stages of making essential changes to the curriculum, and the impact of their work is not yet evident in outcomes for pupils.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Leaders have demonstrated their capacity to make improvements through the school’s effective work to secure good behaviour and in successfully promoting pupils’ personal development.  Children get off to a good start in early years and are well prepared for Year 1.  The curriculum has a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Leaders are rigorous and thorough in promoting pupils’ welfare and safety.

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Full report

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management, by ensuring that:  the self-evaluation of the school is rigorous and based on a thorough understanding of where pupils are in their learning so that improvement planning focuses on actions to improve pupils’ outcomes  assessment systems are accurate and help teachers to improve pupils’ learning, particularly in the basic skills of phonics, reading, writing and mathematics  governors hold senior and middle leaders to account for the impact of their work on pupils’ outcomes, including the progress made by pupils across the curriculum  leaders share good practice that has an impact on pupils’ outcomes so that all pupils benefit from consistently effective teaching  leaders develop monitoring systems that focus on the impact of teaching on pupils’ outcomes  the curriculum is developed to ensure that pupils make effective progress and build their knowledge in each curriculum subject over time

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 additional funds that the school receives for pupils with SEND or those who are disadvantaged are precisely targeted to improve pupils’ progress.  Improve the quality of teaching, by:  ensuring that all teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve in each year group  prioritising pupils’ reading, writing and mathematics development in key stage 1 so that they are well prepared for key stage 2  raising expectations of the pride that pupils take in the presentation of their work  ensuring that teachers give accurate guidance to pupils on how to improve their work, particularly in spelling and handwriting.  Improve the teaching of phonics so that:  adults are well trained and have sound subject knowledge to ensure that pupils quickly learn to read confidently and fluently  pupils get equal and regular opportunities to use the phonics skills that they have learned by reading regularly with adults.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

An external review of governance and an external review of the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

 Leaders have been slow to respond to the continued decline in pupils’ outcomes at the end of key stages 1 and 2. They have prioritised other aspects of the school’s work at the expense of pupils achieving well academically. Leaders accept that their chosen priorities have not had a positive impact on outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics.  Leaders’ self-evaluation of the school, validated by the local authority’s school improvement partner, is too generous. Leaders have not been sufficiently ambitious and determined to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the school.  The support provided by the local authority has not been effective or urgent enough to halt the decline in pupils’ outcomes. On the last visit to the school, judgements were made on teaching and learning without visiting classrooms.  Leaders have failed to raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve. They

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

have often prioritised teachers’ autonomy over achieving consistently effective teaching, or sharing stronger practice. This has resulted in pupils making slow or uneven progress over time.  The current assessment system does not provide effective information for leaders and teachers on what pupils know and can do. As a result, work is often not well matched to pupils’ abilities and, therefore, pupils either struggle to understand or complete work too easily.  Pupils do not develop a deep understanding of the subjects they are taught. Curriculum changes are in the early stages of development, based on skills and taught through themes. However, the curriculum is not planned well enough to ensure that themes build on pupils’ prior knowledge.  Pupil premium funding is not targeted effectively to improve pupils’ academic outcomes. Disadvantaged pupils are not catching up with their peers. Pupils receive

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

support for their personal development, including additional support from adults to improve behaviour and attendance.  Leaders have not been able to strike the right balance between the focus on the well- being of pupils with SEND and the appropriate ambition to ensure effective development of academic skills. As a result, pupils with SEND do not make the progress of which they are capable. These pupils receive effective support to meet their social and emotional needs and to improve attendance. Extensive training is provided to staff to help them understand the needs of pupils.  Teachers feel well supported and say that their professional development is well provided for. All of the 11 staff who answered the survey during the inspection said they enjoy working at the school and feel they are treated with respect and care.  Leaders have been successful in improving systems for ensuring good behaviour and

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Effectiveness of leadership and management Inadequate

developing pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare.  Leaders spend the physical education (PE) and sport premium effectively to promote sports development, fitness for pupils and teachers’ confidence and expertise in teaching PE.  The curriculum has a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils cover a range of topics over time which provide a broad understanding of the world, including different cultures. This prepares them well for life in modern Britain.

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Governance of the school

 Governors have been too ready to accept information from leaders about the context of the school. This has been used, on occasions, as a reason not to expect good or improving outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics.  Governors do not hold the school to account for the outcomes of pupils. They do not ask searching questions about the progress pupils are making. The information they receive is not robust. This reduces the governing body’s ability to question and challenge school leaders.  Governors are largely new to their posts. They have a good range of skills to enable them to undertake their statutory duties. They know the strengths of the school and visit regularly.

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Safeguarding

 The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.  There is a very positive safeguarding culture which ensures that adults and children can share their concerns and worries. Pupils feel safe and say that adults support them when they have concerns.  Adults work well with external agencies to keep pupils safe. The experienced designated leader for safeguarding works with staff to continually improve the safeguarding processes and systems. These systems are effective in allowing leaders to share appropriate information with staff so that they can keep pupils safe. This includes a weekly safeguarding meeting with other leaders to update them on important events.  When pupils leave the school, leaders ensure that pupils have safely transferred to another school. They ensure that important information is passed to pupils’ new schools.  Leaders carry out the necessary recruitment checks on staff before they begin working

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

 The teaching of phonics is not effective in ensuring that pupils become fluent readers by the end of key stage 1. This is because expectations are too low and the scheme of learning is not sufficiently well planned or resourced. Teachers are unclear about the progression in pupils’ knowledge and skills. For example, during the inspection, pupils in Years 1, 2 and 4 were learning to read and spell the same sounds despite their differing needs and prior knowledge.  When pupils fall behind in phonics, they do not catch up. Teachers do not provide effective support to enable all pupils to read well.  Despite their good start in Reception, pupils do not make good progress through key stages 1 and 2. This is because the quality of teaching is not effective enough. For example, in some cases, pupils’ books demonstrate that writing skills are better at the beginning of the academic year than at the end. Although pupils may write more, it is

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

not of better quality in handwriting, word choice, spelling and the use of punctuation or grammar. There are many examples throughout the school of pupils not using basic punctuation such as full stops and capital letters.  Pupils do not receive effective feedback so that they know what is expected and how to improve. In some classes, and some year groups, pupils’ basic errors are corrected, and pupils correct their own mistakes independently. However, this is too infrequent and not embedded in the expectations of school leaders.  Assessment practices are weak. Teachers do not check pupils’ progress closely enough. As a result, work is not matched to pupils’ abilities and needs. This slows pupils’ progress.  Pupils are not able to apply their mathematical skills confidently. This is because aspects of problem solving and reasoning have not been taught effectively. However, the teaching of mathematics is improving since the introduction of a new scheme of

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate

work which ensures that key mathematical concepts are built on and developed over time.  Pupils with SEND do not always make effective progress in developing basic skills because their academic progress is not clearly prioritised.  Some teaching is effective in ensuring that pupils make progress, particularly in their basic skills of reading, writing and mathematics. This is because teachers are precise in their feedback about what pupils need to do to improve and follow up when pupils do not respond. This raises pupils’ expectation of what they can achieve and their confidence in tackling future work.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Leaders and governors have prioritised the personal development and welfare of pupils. This aspect of the school’s work is effective.  Pupils are confident and ambitious for themselves. Some say that the work that they have done in school has inspired them to want to be engineers, doctors and designers.  Pupils enjoy learning about a range of curriculum areas, in particular mathematics, PE and art. They enjoy their whole-school music lessons where teaching is effective and adults have high expectations. This supports effective relationships and helps members of the whole school feel proud of their achievements. This also has a positive impact on pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Pupils say that they feel safe. They play well together at lunchtimes and playtimes. They are respectful of each other in discussions. They listen carefully and often

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Personal development and welfare

encourage and support one another.  Older pupils are clear about how to stay safe online and know that there are adults to whom they can turn, including school staff and their parents and carers, if they need help or are concerned. Some pupils are aware of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) button, which helps people to report any unsafe online activity.  Pupils enjoy a range of sporting activities. This makes a good contribution to pupils’ fitness and health.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good.  While there is some low-level disruption in lessons and some excessive noise levels at times when pupils are not challenged or engaged by their work, pupils are typically well behaved in lessons and around school.  Pupils have attended recent external events where bullying was explored and what it means and feels like to be bullied. Pupils are clear that words can hurt and can cause distress. They are also clear that hurting people physically is ‘a barrier that you don’t cross’. Pupils feel that where bullying or bad behaviour occurs, staff deal with it quickly. One pupil discussed articulately the words of a song which described how people felt when they were bullied: ‘it’s like having to put your armour on mentally.’  Attendance has historically been below average. Persistent absence has also been high. Attendance has improved this year and persistent absence has reduced. Attendance is

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Behaviour

now average.  The school has had a high level of exclusion in the past, but school leaders and staff have worked hard at improving behaviour. This includes making additional, alternative provision for pupils who find managing their feelings and emotions difficult. Because of this work, exclusions are much reduced. Parents are very positive about this work and the impact on their children.

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

 Too few pupils make effective progress. This is clear from pupils’ books and from examples of the learning over time.  Outcomes in key stage 1 have declined significantly between 2016 and 2019. Current pupils are not making effective progress in key stage 1 because leaders’ and teachers’ expectations are not high enough.  In 2018, Year 6 pupils made weaker progress in mathematics than in reading and writing, and this had a negative impact on the proportion of pupils who left school ready for secondary school. Leaders have acted to address this with the implementation of a new mathematics scheme. The sequence of teaching is now clearer and there are systems to ensure that pupils learn and use calculation strategies. However, pupils’ progress remains too slow.  Outcomes over time at the end of key stage 2 have not improved and remain below average. Current pupils’ books reflect inconsistent and low expectations of what they

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Outcomes for pupils Inadequate

can achieve and low expectations of presentation, handwriting and spelling. Pupils do not make effective progress across the curriculum.  Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND do not make effective progress, particularly in developing their basic skills. This is because teaching and learning do not meet pupils’ needs and do not build on prior knowledge. For example, some pupils with poor phonics skills are not reading books matched to their abilities. As a result, their confidence does not improve.  Pupils in the nurture provision make good progress because their needs are well catered for. The impact of this provision can be seen in the good behaviour in the school and the fact that pupils transfer back into the main school effectively.

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Early years provision Good

 Teaching in early years is effective in supporting all children to make progress. This is because there are higher expectations than in the rest of the school and more careful monitoring of children’s progress over time. Staff know the curriculum well and ensure it is covered. This includes teaching vital early reading, writing and mathematical skills. Teachers respond well to the needs of the children, including any behavioural needs.  Children make effective progress, sometimes from low starting points. They are well prepared for key stage 1. Children’s books demonstrate higher expectations than in the rest of the school. Children make good progress because they are expected to be able to form letters and numerals correctly and to use their phonics accurately to spell. They are also expected to place letters on lines by the end of the year. As a result, increasing numbers meet the early learning goals for reading, writing and mathematics

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Early years provision Good

and achieve a good level of development.  The vast majority of children attend Nursery and transfer into the Reception class. This means that most children and families are clear about expectations when they start. Home visits and supportive resources to develop children’s learning at home have encouraged more parents to attend information events.  Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the teaching, the support that they receive, and the ‘creative’ ways in which children are supported to learn. ‘I am delighted with the progress my child has made,’ is one typical comment.  This year, due to careful planning and monitoring of children’s progress, the gap between boys’ and girls’ attainment at the end of Reception has closed.  Disadvantaged children have attained a good level of development in larger numbers than the whole cohort. This means that disadvantaged children are well prepared for learning in key stage 1. Focused work to improve boys’ writing has been successful.

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Early years provision Good

 The outdoor learning environment is being developed. This is because leaders are working to encourage more engagement and provide greater challenge for children.  Leaders are mindful of the barriers to learning that children face and are developing the provision to support removal of these barriers, including greater focus on developing children’s physical skills.  Children are safe and well looked after in early years. Safeguarding is effective and welfare requirements for the early years are met.

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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

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Email address admin@dehavilland.herts.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 30 April–1 May 2015

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Information about this school

 The headteacher and some senior leaders were in post at the time of the last inspection.  The majority of pupils in the school are White British.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above national averages.  The proportion of pupils in receipt of free school meals is above national averages.  The numbers of disadvantaged pupils decreased more than for most schools between 2017 and 2018.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is in line with national averages.  The percentage of pupils with an education, health and care plan is below national averages.  The number of pupils on roll is larger than average.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed lessons in a wide variety of subjects across all year groups that were in school during the inspection.  Inspectors met with parents and pupils to discuss their views of the school.  Inspectors discussed aspects of the school with a range of school leaders, including the senior leadership team, and leaders for mathematics, English, phonics, pupil premium, PE and sport premium, and SEND.  Inspectors took account of 43 responses from parents to the online questionnaire, including written comments provided in the free-text boxes.  Twenty pupils responded to the questionnaire provided for them and inspectors spoke with pupils throughout the day including at playtime, during lessons and in small groups.  Inspectors took account of 11 responses to the staff survey provided during the inspection and individual views when meeting with a small group of staff.  Inspectors spoke to governors and a representative from the local authority.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors examined a range of school documentation, including self-evaluation documents, the school improvement plan, minutes of governing body meetings and outcomes of external reviews of the school.  Inspectors talked to pupils about reading and read with pupils from a range of year groups.  Inspectors examined pupils’ work from a range of subjects and year groups.

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Inspection team

Debbie Rogan, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Kay Tims 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

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Inspection team

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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