Eversley Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Eversley Primary School Crest Avenue, Pitsea, Basildon, Essex SS13 2EF

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Outcome

Eversley Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils do well by the time they leave the school. Teachers have high expectations. These are evident in the consistent approach to the presentation of pupils’ work. This attention to detail speaks highly of the care teachers take and the positive attitudes of most pupils to their learning. Pupils appreciate their teachers and the effort staff put into making learning fun. Pupils enjoy school and attend regularly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour is generally positive, but sometimes the way a few pupils behave distracts others. Pupils have time to enjoy a range of activities, such as yoga, card-making, quizzes and fitness workouts during the very popular ‘Fun time Fridays’. Pupils talk enthusiastically about these opportunities to learn things they don’t cover in their usual lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel listened to. They know that there is an adult they can turn to if they need help or if they are worried about something. Pupils understand what bullying is and the different sorts of bullying that can happen in school and beyond. Adults take bullying seriously. Pupils have been taught that they have an important role to play, as bystanders, when things go wrong. They understand that they can contribute to reducing bullying.

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

Leaders are committed to making sure that pupils learn well in a wide range of subjects. They have achieved this. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), study all the national curriculum subjects and have plenty of opportunities to learn other things in the many activities the school provides, including clubs and trips, and from visitors who come into school. These contribute well to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There are also some experiences that the headteacher ensures all pupils have by the time they leave school, including learning an instrument, first-aid training, being in a performance, raising money for charity and learning to grow vegetables in the school allotment.

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

Leaders have a clear vision for pupils with SEND. They provide additional support and 10–11 December 2019

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focus on helping pupils succeed in classes along with their peers. Additional adults play an important part in this, for example by taking time to explain tasks further or by ensuring pupils understand the vocabulary they need in lessons. Pupils who fall behind are usually helped to catch up quickly.

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Pupils’ behaviour is usually positive, and pupils are well cared for. Those with medical needs are looked after well and the school works with their families to offer sensitive support and guidance.

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The headteacher leads a team of staff who are highly committed to the school and to each other. She has worked closely with the well-established team to consider ways to reduce workload, while ensuring that the important things are done well.

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Leaders have worked with staff to review the way subjects are planned and taught. They wanted to ensure that teachers plan lessons that build on what pupils already know and that pupils are challenged in every subject. This work is well under way but not completed. Teachers can now see what has gone before and what comes next for pupils. This helps them to pitch work at the right level and to draw on pupils’ knowledge from previous topics. However, more is needed to help teachers plan learning within topics, in the correct order, for pupils to grow their understanding and remember the important things. This is particularly the case in subjects such as geography and history.

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The curriculum in mathematics is working well. Pupils learn the basic knowledge they need, and this grows from one term to the next in a logical way. Children in early years are enthusiastic to write numerals correctly, to count accurately and to add and subtract objects. Pupils in Year 6 use their firm understanding of place value to solve complex number problems. However, some pupils have previously fallen behind in learning their times tables and this slows them down. The mathematics curriculum now ensures that pupils learn these basic facts early in key stage 2.

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Pupils get off to a good start in reading. Children in the Reception classes learn the phonic knowledge they need to begin reading simple words and phrases. They practise their early reading in carefully chosen books that usually match their needs. Pupils enjoy the stories and poems teachers read to them and the class novels they share. Pupils can name their favourite authors and books. They enjoy reading and are very happy with the well-stocked school library. However, pupils’ progress from the end of Year 2 to the end of Year 6 has slowed recently. Leaders have plans to address this so that pupils do even better by the time they leave school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders provide the training adults need in order to do their part in keeping pupils safe. Adults know what to do if they have concerns and they understand the risks that pupils face in the local community. Pupils are helped to know how to keep safe online. The pupils who act as digital leaders do their part to inform others about the potential dangers when using the internet. Staff complete the necessary checks on adults who work with 10–11 December 2019

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children and record these carefully. Leaders have recently introduced a new online system to record concerns.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 T he school’s curriculum is not yet sufficiently coherently planned and sequenced in some subjects. However, it is clear from the actions that leaders have already taken to plan the curriculum that they are in the process of bringing this about.  Some subjects in the curriculum are not planned precisely enough. This means that knowledge is not always taught in the correct order. Leaders should continue their work to sequence the curriculum to ensure that pupils learn well in all subjects.  Progress in reading from key stage 1 to key stage 2 has slowed recently. Although most pupils achieve well by the time they leave school, leaders should do more to ensure that pupils build more successfully on the good start they make in early reading.

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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 in March 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.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 10–11 December 2019

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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. 10–11 December 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110302 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Mrs Amanda Whittaker

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School details

Date of previous inspection 8–9 March 2016

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Information about this school

 This is a two-form-entry primary school. Children in early years are taught in two Reception classes.

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Information about this inspection

 I conducted deep dives in reading, mathematics and geography. The deep dives involved discussions with subject leaders, lesson visits, looking at pupils’ work, talking to pupils and talking to teachers.  I met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and a range of other staff.  I met with members of the governing body, including the chair.  I met with groups of pupils about their work and their experiences of school. I talked to pupils in class and during breaktimes.  I considered the 51 responses to Parent View, the 52 responses to the pupil survey and 25 responses to the staff survey.  I looked at a range of documents, including leaders’ self-evaluations and the school improvement plans.  To inspect the effectiveness of the school’s safeguarding arrangements, I scrutinised 10–11 December 2019

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the single central record of employment checks, met with the designated leaders for safeguarding (the headteacher and deputy headteacher), spoke to staff about their understanding of the school’s safeguarding arrangements, and spoke to pupils about keeping safe.

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Inspection team

Michelle Winter, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 10–11 December 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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