Chestnuts Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Chestnuts Primary School Black Boy Lane, Tottenham, London N15 3AS

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Outcome

Chestnuts Primary School continues to be a good school. However, the inspector had some concerns that standards may be declining, as set out below.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their time at school. They generally get on well with each other. Many have strong opinions, and they listen respectfully to each other’s views. In class, pupils behave well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children get off to a great start to their reading in the Nursery and Reception Years. Pupils are enthusiastic during mathematics lessons and work hard. But the curriculum is not planned well enough in history, geography and science. Pupils are not consistently learning the knowledge they need.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders want pupils to enjoy the benefits of going to school in London. For example, pupils visit the Wigmore Hall in central London to hear and perform music. Some pupils have also made short films. Others have performed in a band through the ‘Rocksteady’ programme. Pupils have many opportunities to attend after-school clubs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils said that bullying sometimes happens, but it is sorted out. Staff said that pupils’ behaviour in the school was challenging. They feel that leaders support them well to manage this.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Some subjects are taught well. For example, pupils concentrate hard as they solve problems in mathematics. However, in other subjects, such as history, geography and science, teachers do not have enough guidance about what to teach. Leaders’ plans in these subjects do not identify what pupils need to learn in depth. This holds pupils back.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders ensure that younger pupils learn their phonics quickly. Teachers have high expectations and are well trained. They watch out in case younger pupils fall behind, and quickly help most of them to catch up. Most pupils read accurately from books which help 2–3 October 2019

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them to practise the sounds they are learning. Story times for younger pupils are enjoyable. However, some key stage 2 pupils still need help with phonics. They do not always have the right reading books to help them to sound out words. In the past, disadvantaged pupils did not make strong progress in their reading. This has started to improve.

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Mathematics is taught well. Teachers have received high-quality training. Plans are sequenced so that pupils can build on what they have already learned. In the Nursery, staff skilfully teach children knowledge about small numbers as they play. Older pupils revise what they already know before they move on to new learning. Pupils explain their thinking to each other, and this deepens their learning. Teachers adapt lessons for pupils’ different abilities so that all pupils keep up.

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In other subjects, planning is not as good. Plans in science are not consistently sequenced well enough to ensure that pupils are provided with more difficult work as they get older. Pupils in Year 6 have learned about scientific classification in a simpler way than pupils in Year 4. Plans for geography and history do not ensure that pupils learn everything they need in the right order. In geography, pupils learned about Caribbean people arriving in Britain on the ‘HMT Empire Windrush’ before they learned where the Caribbean is. Although pupils enjoyed visiting one of the London museums, they could not link what they had seen to their history knowledge.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the help they need. For example, in mathematics, pupils with SEND are given work which is closely matched to their needs. Teachers regularly check their support plans to ensure that the curriculum is adapted to meet their needs.

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Pupils receive intensive swimming tuition in the school’s own pool. They take part in musical performances in school and in a London concert hall. There are many stimulating after-school and holiday activities which they join in with. These opportunities help pupils develop into confident, active and healthy citizens.

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Children are thriving in the early years. They play happily and confidently together. Staff are caring. They skilfully encourage the children to keep on trying as they learn new things. The children love story time and learn new words through the stories they hear.

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Staff agree that senior leaders are approachable, and that the new practice of tackling poor behaviour is working. Leaders take positive steps to reduce staff’s workload. . Most parents and carers say that the school is welcoming and that leaders sort out any problems promptly.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Before adults start work in the school, leaders and governors make sure that all of the suitability checks are carried out. All staff receive regular, high-quality training. They are able to spot any signs that might worry them about a child’s welfare. Staff talk to leaders 2–3 October 2019

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about any concerns they might have. Leaders follow these concerns up quickly.

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The designated lead for safeguarding works with the local authority and other agencies to ensure that pupils get the help they need.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Pupils achieve well in the early stages of learning to read. However, some pupils in key stage 2 do not read books matched closely to their phonics knowledge. This limits these pupils’ reading fluency. Leaders should ensure that the positive work in key stage 1 continues into key stage 2 so that all pupils have books matched to their reading ability.  The school’s curriculum in history, geography and science is not sufficiently sequenced or coherent. This limits pupils’ ability to build on their previous learning in depth. Leaders need to ensure that curriculum plans in these subjects show teachers what pupils should know and when they should teach it. This will enable teachers to build pupils’ knowledge sequentially, over time.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 2–3 February 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

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. 2–3 October 2019

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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. 2–3 October 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110459 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 2–3 February 2016

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Information about this school

 Chestnuts Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school. It joined the Green Lanes Co-operative Learning Trust in June 2013. The governing body oversees the school’s work. This includes before- and after-school provision, and provision for two-year-olds.  The proportion of pupils who speak English is an additional language is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND who have an education, health and care plan is above the national average.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the headteacher and the three other members of the senior leadership team. I also met with 10 class teachers, four other adults working in the school and three governors.  I concentrated on the curriculum areas of reading, mathematics and history. As part of the deep dives, I held discussions with leaders about the design of the curriculum and how it is being implemented. I also looked at pupils’ work, visited lessons and held discussions with teachers and pupils. I also reviewed science and geography in the 2–3 October 2019

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curriculum.  I considered a range of information provided by the school. This included looking at the school’s website, school policies, curriculum documents, SEND records and published information about pupils’ performance. Safeguarding information (including the checks that leaders make on staff before they start working in the school), and logs about bullying and behaviour were also considered. I observed pupils playing at breaktime and lunchtime.  I spoke with parents at the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

Julian Grenier, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 2–3 October 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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