West Acton Primary School

Inspection of a good school: West Acton Primary School Noel Road, Acton, London W3 0JL

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Outcome

West Acton Primary School continues to be a good school. However, inspectors have some concerns that standards may be declining, as set out below.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Since the previous inspection, the school has undergone many changes. These include changes to governance, senior leadership and staffing. As a result, the school’s own policies and procedures are not followed as well as they should be.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers mostly build strong relationships with pupils. Pupils in most lessons engage well with their learning. In these lessons, they focus well and enjoy their learning. However, this is not always the case.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Bullying was an issue at the school during the previous year. Pupils said that this has improved this year. Leaders take incidents of bullying seriously. They follow up to deal with issues better than they did in the past. The recently appointed headteacher and governors are committed to improving the school. They have made effective improvements to some areas of the school, but recognise that more work is required.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils said that their teachers are caring. Parents and carers like the inclusivity and diversity at the school. They interact positively with staff at the start and end of the day. The school has many new arrivals who are in the early stages of learning English as an additional language. Leaders and staff welcome these pupils and most settle down to be fully included in school life.

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

Since the previous inspection, there have been many changes. Governors and the headteacher are new to the school. Leadership in the school has not been as effective as it should have been. Systems and procedures are not consistently followed. For example, leaders’ precision in following up behavioural concerns has varied. The headteacher has made positive changes, but recognises that more is still required. 28–29 January 2020

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Subject plans are at different stages of development. In music, French and art, plans are not ambitious enough. Pupils’ learning in music and French has suffered due to changes in staff personnel. Leaders’ work to improve history, geography and science plans has been positive. These are ambitious and identify what pupils should learn. However, teachers do not use these plans as well as they could. Too often, teachers choose content and activities for pupils that do not build on their knowledge. In mathematics, teachers are clear about what they need to teach and when. Children in Reception learn about early numeracy, including number and shapes.

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Behaviour has been a challenge since the previous inspection. Pupils behave mostly well in classrooms. However, adults’ expectations of pupils are variable. In most classes, pupils behave very well. They engage with adults and are respectful of each other. However, in some, pupils do not follow instructions well. This limits their learning.

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Pupils’ behaviour on the playground during lunchtime is not as good as it should be. Many pupils shared that they felt staff at lunchtime do not deal with arguments as well as they should. Inspectors agree. During lunchtime, staff do not manage low-level disruptive behaviour consistently well. Pupils do not like this. More serious incidents are dealt with quickly by senior leaders.

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Although pupils do have opportunities to go on visits, the frequency of these is variable. This is because leaders have not consistently overseen the planning of visits robustly. They are too reliant on teachers to plan these. Pupils have opportunities to attend clubs, including those that are sporting and artistic.

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Pupils learn how to keep safe and learn about other cultures. The school’s diversity and pupils’ different backgrounds are respected and celebrated. Pupils said that this has helped them to appreciate one another. Pupils learn about bullying and its effects. Leaders teach pupils about equalities and have led assemblies about the ‘protected characteristics’. While there have been no reported incidents of homophobic bullying, leaders have not ensured that pupils have been taught about homophobia.

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Children get off to a quick start with their reading in Reception. Most children are fully engaged when learning phonics. Adults have strong subject knowledge. They check on children’s learning and clarify any misconceptions. In Years 1 and 2, pupils learn to build on their early phonics by beginning to read a variety of books. Pupils who need extra help receive effective support. Adults help pupils to practise their sounds and build on their reading fluency. Pupils who are new to the English language receive targeted support. This helps them to build on their phonics and language skills. Most of these pupils quickly learn to read. Sometimes, the lower-ability pupils have reading books that are too difficult. They do not become fluent readers as quickly as they should. This is more often the case in key stage 2.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive effective support. Pupils from the Woodlands resource provision receive strong support. They learn to build on their life skills well. These pupils are included in the school day. For example, they enjoy their playtimes with other pupils. Parents mostly value the support and care that pupils with SEND receive. 28–29 January 2020

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Staff feel well supported. Their morale is high. They value leaders’ actions to support their well-being. Teachers shared that they benefited from extra time to do research and improve their subject knowledge.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work well together to keep children safe. They have up-to-date training and use external agencies to follow up concerns. Staff receive regular safeguarding training and follow the school’s policies well. Leaders reflect on how to better engage with the local community. For example, they have started parent workshops on female genital mutilation to raise awareness.

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Safeguarding

The newly appointed safeguarding officer is well known to pupils and parents. This helps pupils feel safe in school. Pupils learn about personal safety. They learn how to keep themselves safe in the local area, including when using public transport. Pupils know whom to go to should they have a concern.

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Safeguarding

During the inspection, leaders made some administrative changes to the single central record of checks carried out on staff. This ensured that the record was compliant with statutory requirements.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Owing to changes in leadership, policies and procedures are not followed by staff consistently well. Leaders should continue to review and strengthen their systems so that all staff have the knowledge to carry out their responsibilities with rigour. They must ensure that leaders’ actions to follow up any behavioural concerns follow the school’s policy.  Pupils’ behaviour during lunchtime is not managed as well as it should be. As a result, many pupils shared that there were too many arguments at lunchtime. Leaders should ensure that the lunchtime staff’s ability to manage low-level incidents is improved.  Leaders have taught pupils about the importance of equality and laws that relate to this. However, pupils have not learned about homophobic bullying. This has limited their understanding of different forms of prejudice. Leaders should ensure that they have plans for pupils to learn about homophobia.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ actions to review subject plans have been positive. However, many plans are at an early stage of development. They do not identify the key content that pupils need to learn so that they can build on their prior learning. Leaders should ensure that subject plans, including those in French, music, and art and design, are reviewed. They must ensure that teachers’ subject knowledge is strengthened so that they know what to teach and when. 28–29 January 2020

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 Lower-ability pupils and those new to the English language receive strong support in their reading. However, some pupils, particularly in key stage 2, cannot read texts that they are given. Leaders must ensure that these pupils have texts that are closely matched to their ability.

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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 June 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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are 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. 28–29 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121570 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governors Amin Dawuda (interim chair)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15–16 June 2016

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Information about this school

 The current headteacher was appointed in September 2018.  The governing body has recently changed. It is led by an interim chair of governors.  The school has an additional resourced provision on site. This caters for pupils with communication needs, including autism spectrum disorder. Currently this has 18 pupils from Reception to Year 4.  The school uses alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 We met with the headteacher, senior leaders and other leaders. We held a meeting with a group of governors. We met with a representative of the local authority.  We did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. This included scrutinising subject plans, speaking with leaders, visiting lessons and holding discussions with staff and pupils. We also considered other subjects as part of this inspection.  We checked the school’s safeguarding documentation and processes, including those related to pre-employment checks. 28–29 January 2020

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Inspection team

Noeman Anwar, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Alison Colenso Her Majesty’s Inspector 28–29 January 2020

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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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