Discovery Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Discovery Primary School Battery Road, Thamesmead, London SE28 0JN

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Inspection dates: 9 and 10 November 2021

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Outcome

Discovery Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils display positive attitudes to their learning. They are motivated and eager to learn. Pupils have a strong sense of community and enjoy coming to school. One pupil said, ‘Learning is in my heart.’ Staff have high expectations for all pupils. The school’s values of honesty, empathy, aspiration, resilience and trust underpin all learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils pride themselves on the school’s ethos of ‘Ubuntu’. They typically explained this as, ‘We are because of others’. Pupils take this commitment seriously. They value positions of responsibility, for example as members of the school council or the junior leadership team or as travel ambassadors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and are well cared for. They said that bullying is rare. If bullying happens, staff deal with it quickly. Pupils are kind, courteous and respectful. The level of care and support offered to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength. This is a school where diversity and inclusion are celebrated and all pupils are welcome.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy a wide range of educational visits. These include trips to museums, galleries, theatres, cinemas and places of historical interest. Older pupils experience residential visits and all pupils have access to a wide range of after-school clubs.

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

Leaders have clear plans in place for each subject. Staff teach lessons in the planned sequences to build on pupils’ previous learning. This helps pupils to know more and remember more. Pupils can use what they have learned in one subject to help them understand other subject areas. For example, in history, pupils have strong recall of key historical facts and events. They can use their skills of historical enquiry to explain changes in the local environment. 9 and 10 November 2021

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Staff identify pupils’ learning needs at an early stage. This helps to ensure that no pupil is left behind. Support staff offer additional catch-up support. Pupils with SEND are well supported. Staff use individual learning plans and specialist support, such as speech and language therapy, to meet individual needs.

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The school serves a community of significant disadvantage. Leaders ensure that all pupils have access to a wide range of activities to support their wider development, for example cultural celebrations, sports teams and the school choir. Pupils develop their general knowledge of the world around them. They are knowledgeable about famous artists and musicians. Pupils are also very aware of environmental issues such as climate change and air and sea pollution. Pupils are attentive in lessons and do not have to worry about low- level disruption.

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Pupils learn to read well. Leaders promote a love of reading across the school. Pupils quickly gain the confidence to become confident, fluent readers. Pupils in Year 2 through to Year 6 talked confidently about their favourite authors. Staff introduce them to a wide range of exciting texts, including Shakespeare and classical literature. Pupils understand the main themes of what they have read.

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Children settle well into the Nursery due to the high level of care and guidance staff give them. Children have fun and enjoy the activities and story sessions. These help to develop their knowledge of sounds and vocabulary. In the Reception Year, children are increasingly skilful and confident in phonics. However, they have limited opportunities to apply their knowledge of sounds in their writing.

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Teachers have strong subject knowledge. They use skilful questioning and select tasks to help pupils understand more complex work. For example, in mathematics, pupils have regular opportunities to use calculation, reasoning and problem-solving skills. In the early years, children practise counting, understanding numbers and how to identify shapes. Children in the Reception Year are now ready to extend their skills further through the recording of their mathematics work.

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Governors are skilful and knowledgeable. They make regular visits to the school and offer effective challenge and support. Parents and carers are very supportive of the school. They value and respect the leadership of the headteacher.

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Staff feel supported in their workload. They appreciate the willingness of the leadership team to listen to their views. Staff reported that leaders care about their well-being and that they feel valued.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders have developed a strong culture of safeguarding. All staff are well trained and are aware of the possible risks. They understand and follow the process for reporting concerns. 9 and 10 November 2021

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The safeguarding team acts on all concerns and works closely with the local authority. Records are detailed and leaders carefully monitor the safety and welfare of pupils. Vulnerable families are well supported and are signposted to useful help and guidance.

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The safeguarding team works with outside agencies to raise awareness of keeping safe within the wider community. For example, the team raises pupils’ awareness of the dangers of gangs, county lines, drugs and knife crime. Pupils are taught about online safety when using the internet.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Children in Reception lack opportunities to use their early reading, writing and mathematical skills. This has an impact on their confidence to apply these skills. Leaders need to develop opportunities for children to practise their literacy and numeracy learning.

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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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2012.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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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You can search for published performance information about the school.

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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. 9 and 10 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200019 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 15 September 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Discovery Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school.  A new headteacher was appointed in 2019.  The school has specialist resource provision for pupils with autism spectrum disorder.  The school uses one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteachers and subject leaders. Inspectors also met with members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors reviewed documentation provided by the school, including the school’s development plan, self-evaluation and curriculum plans. 9 and 10 November 2021

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 Inspectors met with members of the safeguarding team to review policies and procedures. They discussed behaviour and checked records of pupils’ behaviour. An inspector also viewed the school’s central record of suitability checks for staff and visitors.  Inspectors held meetings with members of staff who support pupils with SEND, and an inspector visited the specialist provision for pupils with autism spectrum disorder.  Inspectors visited the playgrounds to observe pupils at play and held conversations with groups of pupils to seek their views.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. Inspectors also listened to pupils while they read.  An inspector met with a group of teachers to discuss workload and well-being.

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 Inspectors considered the 62 responses to Ofsted’s online parents’ survey. Inspectors also considered the 63 responses to the staff survey.

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Inspection team

Tom Canning, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Neil Harvey Ofsted Inspector 9 and 10 November 2021

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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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