Drayton Park Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Drayton Park Primary School Arvon Road, Highbury, London N5 1PJ

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Outcome

Drayton Park Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their school. They are eager to explain all the great things that their school does. Pupils said that teachers help them to keep safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has developed a curriculum which has high expectations for all pupils. In mathematics, pupils described how they were excited by the challenge that they could set themselves. They said that their teachers support them to become better learners and to find out more. The pupils described how they take an active part in improving their work.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are engaged in their learning and work well with each other. They told me about the school’s ‘Marbelous’ rewards and sanctions behaviour scheme. They said that it helps them focus on good behaviour. The pupils said that this system is fair and that there had been great improvements in behaviour recently. Leaders also explained that there has been an improvement in the behaviour of pupils in the current academic year.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A small minority of pupils told me that bullying can happen occasionally. However, they said that the teachers deal with it quickly. Pupils described how adults support them to resolve situations.

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

The subjects have been carefully planned. All the staff have been involved in the process of designing the curriculum. Staff have high expectations of the pupils, and achievement has risen, particularly in key stage 2 and in the early years. Long-term subject plans support staff to teach what pupils need to learn in a logical order. Staff also assess pupils’ abilities and use the information to inform their planning of what to teach.

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

Leaders have improved the way that early reading is taught. Reading is taught daily throughout the school. Teachers use the pupils’ self-assessments of their abilities to adapt their teaching to address any misconceptions. In the early years, children develop their independence and take pride in showing off their new skills. 13–14 November 2019

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Younger pupils are taught phonics effectively. Following training, all staff use the same approach to teach each sound. They use a range of techniques to help pupils remember these sounds and to use them in their reading. Books are well matched to the reading ability of each pupil. This means that pupils can sound out any unknown words before attempting to reread the whole sentence. This helps pupils to become fluent readers.

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Staff working with younger pupils use a great deal of encouragement to support these pupils to develop their new skills.

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The school has developed a series of lessons for teaching reading to older pupils. Pupils study pieces of writing in depth to understand the writers’ intentions. This helps pupils to develop a deeper understanding of the texts. The Year 6 pupils were studying ‘Raider’s Peril’ and were able to describe, in detail, the setting and the main character’s digital world. This text also allowed the pupils to explore other areas, such as e-safety.

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Pupils who struggle with reading are given extra time and support to help them catch up. In all classes, stories are shared. This develops an enjoyment of reading for all pupils.

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Mathematics has also been rigorously planned. Teachers have broken down what they want pupils to know into manageable steps. Teachers provide time for pupils to reflect on what they have learned and to recognise where mistakes were made. Staff use this information to check pupils’ understanding and knowledge.

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Leaders have ensured that pupils learn a broad range of subjects. Teachers know what they need to teach. Plans set out the order that subject content is taught. Pupils ask intelligent questions based on their prior knowledge and want to deepen their own understanding. Teachers plan educational visits that reinforce pupils’ learning. Pupils learning about Roman civilization had an opportunity to view artefacts at the Museum of London.

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In the past, a small proportion of pupils have not behaved consistently well since the last inspection. The proportion of fixed-term exclusions for poor behaviour has been high in the last two academic years. Leaders have worked well with these pupils to help improve their behaviour. There have been no fixed-term exclusions in the current academic year.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) access the full curriculum. Teachers adapt subject planning for pupils with SEND. Adults give all pupils time to think so that they do not become overdependent on support. These pupils access the full curriculum. However, a minority of parents and carers were concerned about the support that their children have received to meet their needs.

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The school has given a great deal of thought to how pupils use the space in the early years and Year 1 area. The staff in these classes have given attention to how the outside space is used.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 13–14 November 2019

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All staff know how to identify pupils who may need support or be at risk of harm. School leaders act appropriately to ensure that the best interests of the child are at the heart of their practice.

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Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. For example, the school organised a presentation from the NSPCC to teach pupils about their rights over their own bodies.

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The designated safeguarding lead and senior leaders work with a wide group of support providers. They know how to access this support from other agencies and ensure that pupils get the support they require.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In the previous two academic years, the number of fixed-term exclusions for poor behaviour has been high. The school has made great efforts to address the behavioural issues in the school of a small proportion of pupils. Leaders must ensure that they embed the improvements in pupils’ behaviour and maintain the recent reduction in fixed-term exclusions.  The school’s curriculum is new. Senior and subject leaders have developed this well, and it is being taught throughout the school. Improvements in attainment have begun to be seen in key stage 1, including in early reading. Leaders need to continue to monitor and develop the curriculum to ensure that these improvements are embedded.

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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 11–12 May 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. 13–14 November 2019

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

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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. 13–14 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10121586 Type of school Primary

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School details

Headteachers Damien Parrott (Executive Headteacher) Annabelle Kapoor (Head of School) Website www.draytonpark.islington.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11–12 May 2016

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Information about this school

 The school is part of a federation with Montem Primary School. Both schools have the same executive headteacher.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the executive headteacher, head of school, deputy headteacher and members of staff. I also met with members of the governing body and a local authority representative.  I did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each of these subjects, I held discussions with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke with staff and pupils and I looked at pupils’ work.  I spoke with parents and considered the 51 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, including the free-text responses from parents.  I spoke to pupils and staff about the school’s work to keep pupils safe. I also considered safeguarding records, documentation and the school’s single central record of staff suitability checks. 13–14 November 2019

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Inspection team

Adam Vincent, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 13–14 November 2019

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and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of pupils and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and pupils’ social care, and inspects the Pupils’ 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 pupils’ services, and inspects services for pupils looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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