Greenways Primary School

Inspection of Greenways Primary School Greenways, Southend-on-Sea, Essex SS1 3BS

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not previously inspected 17–18 September 2019

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What is it like to attend this school?

Greenways Primary School serves a community where pupils come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. Leaders understand their community well and are determined that all pupils will have rich experiences in their learning. There is an exciting curriculum to help pupils of all abilities to achieve their very best. Pupils are well looked after in an inclusive and nurturing environment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values, ‘respect, nurture, inspire and aspire’, link to many aspects of teaching and learning. Pupils show respect and are polite. They say that they are happy and well looked after at school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most parents and carers are supportive of staff and the education provided for their children. They comment on the good communication between school and home, and the many opportunities to see first-hand how their children are learning in class.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Greenways are lively and spirited individuals. Pupils mostly behave well in lessons. They told inspectors that interruptions in lessons can sometimes happen, but teachers are good at ‘sorting it out’. Pupils understand the needs of others and say that those who, at times, find school challenging, receive support to make the right choices.

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better?

Pupils at Greenways receive a good quality of education. Leaders share the school vision explicitly with governors and staff. They have a clear understanding of what they want pupils to be able to do when they leave the school, and the role they want pupils to play in society.

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better?

The curriculum provides a range of interesting experiences within the classroom. In addition, the wide range of clubs and trips successfully develops pupils’ creativity, resilience and social skills. Parents value what they describe as the ‘impressive choice’ of after-school clubs. Pupils with a range of abilities enjoy a variety of sporting competitions. All pupils achieve well in sports. Pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) recently won a curling competition.

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better?

Pupils with SEND are nurtured and helped to succeed by experienced staff. Some pupils require specialist support, and teachers adapt the curriculum so that they can achieve as well as they can.

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better?

Teachers help pupils to become independent learners. Pupils are responsible for checking the accuracy of their own work from an early age. Children in Reception check that they are using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. By Year 1, almost all do this without being reminded.

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better?

Mathematics lessons are planned well. Pupils build on their past knowledge of number so that they can reason and solve problems with increasing confidence. 17–18 September 2019

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Pupils enjoy reading, and teachers choose books carefully to link with different topics. Pupils in Year 1 use their phonics knowledge well when reading and most can read confidently by the end of Year 2.

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Pupils do not achieve as well as they should in writing. Pupils in key stage 1 do not yet readily apply their phonics knowledge to their writing. In key stage 2, pupils do not apply their grammar skills consistently in their work. In addition, pupils do not always present their work neatly.

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The teaching of French is very strong, as is the teaching of music. Pupils in the school’s orchestra have opportunities to travel abroad to perform.

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Pupils enjoy their topic work. Year 5 pupils were able to discuss many aspects of the Bayeux tapestry and how the topic connected to previous learning. However, this deeper understanding is not developed well in all year groups and for all subjects. This is because teachers do not check what pupils already know to help them plan for subsequent learning in their topic work. In English and mathematics, teachers do check pupils’ understanding well, by asking relevant questions.

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Reception children are happy and safe. Parents are full of praise for the way that their children are helped to settle quickly. Leaders work with families, agencies and pre-schools before children start. This means that they identify children’s needs early and provide support immediately. The early years curriculum is adapted to meet the wide range of children’s abilities and needs. Children successfully develop knowledge and skills in preparation for Year 1.

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Schools within the trust share good practice. Leaders provide opportunities for teachers and leaders to work together at all levels. As a result, teachers have further developed their skills in supporting pupils with SEND and helping pupils who need help to manage their behaviour.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture of vigilance in the school. Leaders know what to do if they are concerned about pupils at risk, such as from radicalisation or ‘county lines’. The number of exclusions has reduced, and records show that when bullying has happened, adults deal with it appropriately. Leaders carry out the required employment checks on all adults who work with children at the school. All staff receive a comprehensive induction when joining the school. The pastoral teams work closely with pupils and families, providing ongoing support for those pupils who need it the most. Leaders are tenacious in their actions to secure the support they need for individual pupils. 17–18 September 2019

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils do not have a secure enough understanding of topics they have studied. Some pupils do not recall essential learning from previous years in any detail. Teachers need to plan topics and lessons that build on and extend pupils’ prior knowledge and understanding.  Pupils’ achievement in writing is not as good as it should be. To improve writing across the school, teachers need to help pupils consistently use their grammar, punctuation and phonic skills confidently in their writing.  Work in pupils’ books at the end of Year 6 shows too much variation in teachers’ expectations for presentation and quality of work. Teachers need to raise expectations of what pupils can do, particularly in writing, including the use of basic punctuation, checking spellings and joining handwriting. Pupils need to be presenting their work accurately and neatly by the time they leave the school.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you’re not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

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. 17–18 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110176 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school has gone through significant changes over several years. The executive principal was at the junior school during the process of the infant school amalgamating with the junior school.  The school converted to an academy in January 2017 and joined the Learning in Harmony Trust, a multi-academy trust.  The school has a higher than average proportion of pupils who are known to be disadvantaged.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, the inspection team met with the executive principal, the chief executive officer of the trust, the vice-principals, the assistant vice-principal, the special educational needs coordinator, phase leaders, teachers from all year groups, and several groups of pupils to talk about their learning across the curriculum. Inspectors also met with the local governing body.  Reading, writing, mathematics, French, music and physical education were 17–18 September 2019

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considered as part of the inspection. Inspectors spoke to leaders of the subjects, visited lessons, spoke with pupils and teachers, and carried out work scrutinies to understand the quality of education.  Inspectors held meetings with the designated safeguarding leader and midday supervisors, and spoke with pupils, staff and the local governing body to check safeguarding arrangements. Inspectors also checked the school’s processes for checking the suitability of adults who work with pupils and who visit the school.  Inspectors also considered 157 parent responses to Ofsted’s online and free-text survey, Parent View, 79 responses to the staff survey and 149 responses to the pupil survey. Inspectors also spoke with parents on the playground at the beginning of the day.

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Inspection team

Cindy Impey, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Pauline MacMillan Ofsted Inspector 17–18 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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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