St Leonard's Church of England Primary School

Inspection of an outstanding school: St Leonard’s Church of England Primary School 42 Mitcham Lane, Streatham, London SW16 6NP

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Outcome

St Leonard’s Church of England Primary School continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils arrive at school with a smile on their face. They are polite and welcoming. They develop positive relationships with each other. Behaviour is calm in classes and around the school. There is little or no disruption in lessons. Incidents of bullying are rare. Staff respond to these incidents with urgency and care. Pupils are happy and safe here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations for all pupils. They make sure that all pupils thrive, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have designed a curriculum that provides pupils with the opportunities to see themselves in an international context. Links with Mlimwa school in Dodoma, Tanzania, is an example of this. Apart from building a strong relationship between the two schools, pupils have also explored global issues. These include water and food sustainability.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn about the diverse range of cultures and traditions represented in the school and their community. They learn about different family units. These lessons prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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What is it like to attend this school?

A range or trips and clubs are available to pupils. They enjoy visits to the Connected Learning Centre where they develop their coding and programming skills. Older pupils look forward to their weekly swimming lessons as well as their upcoming residential trip.

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

Leaders have carefully designed their curriculum so that it is at least as ambitious as the national curriculum. Subject leaders have clarified the key knowledge and skills that must be taught in each subject. Through the school’s own ‘Golden Thread’ document, leaders have also identified key themes which are revisited each year at a greater depth. Prior learning is revisited in every lesson. Pupils confidently remember key knowledge and 11–12 May 2022

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vocabulary. They can explain how previous work links to what they are learning now. They do this with fluency. Staff regularly check pupils’ knowledge and skills and adapt their teaching accordingly.

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Staff make appropriate adaptations to lessons so that pupils with SEND can access the full curriculum. Staff have developed positive relationships with all parents. They regularly update them on the child’s progress. Leaders engage with outside agencies who also provide regular training for staff. This helps them best cater for pupils’ individual needs.

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Children in Reception learn about patterns, colours and shapes. They remember the vocabulary taught in the lessons. They use the words ‘stripy’, ‘scaly’ and ‘spotty’ when describing the repeated patterns they create. In art and design lessons, Year 2 pupils learn about texture, mood boards, colour palettes and mixed media while looking at, for example, the work of Jim Darling. They remember some of these terms from previous lessons. In Year 5, pupils confidently choose what media to use when creating a piece of art. Pupils can explain what they are doing in art, and how they are improving. They do this confidently, using technical vocabulary to help them. Sketchbooks show a range of work, reflections and evaluations. Pupils are keen to point out how they have improved over time.

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Reception children use torches in the dark sensory room to create shadows. Their teacher models the words ‘light’, ‘dark’, ‘shadow’ and ‘light source’. The children understand that during the day our light source is the sun. In Year 4, while learning about the digestive system, pupils enjoy an investigation in which they get to create ‘poo’. They confidently use the terms ‘saliva’, ‘oesophagus’, ‘small and large intestine’ to explain the process.

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Leaders have prioritised reading, starting in the Nursery, where most children are already confident in segmenting and blending short words. This year, they have adopted a new phonics programme. All staff have received training. They follow systems consistently. Staff have quickly identified any pupils who fell behind in their reading due to COVID-19. Pupils receive extra interventions and one-to-one reading weekly and are rapidly catching up. Staff assess pupils during each session, but more formally every half term. These assessments identify any gaps. This informs teachers on any adaptations they need to make to their lessons.

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Teachers promote the love of reading through carefully chosen texts. They make sure that these books are representative of their communities. Children can name their favourite books, as well as many authors.

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Parents are very positive about the school. They are impressed by the progress their children make. They also appreciate the approachability of the staff and visible leadership. Staff love working here. They feel supported by leaders and find workloads manageable.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 11–12 May 2022

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A strong culture of safeguarding runs through the school. The safeguarding team knows families well. The team understands the contextual issues. All staff and governors receive training regularly that covers all national and local issues. Concerns are raised and responded to immediately. Staff are kept informed regarding specific cases. Leaders are not afraid to escalate cases with the local authority. The time between concerns raised and referrals made is short.

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Governors are fully aware of their statutory duties and regularly discuss safeguarding issues with school leaders.

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Pupils are safe. They all have at least one adult they can speak to. They learn how to keep safe online and can give examples of what they would do in different scenarios.

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Background

When we have judged outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. 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 first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in April 2017.

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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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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. 11–12 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10229079 Type of school Primary

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School details

Chair of trustees Dr Catharina Stibe-Hickson

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school joined the SDBE Multi Academy Trust on 7 August 2018.  The school uses an alternative provision, Future Skills Training, run by Wandsworth’s Family Information Service.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation.  The inspector held meetings with senior leaders from the school. They met with six members of the governing body, including the chair.  A meeting was held with the chief operating officer and Education Partner of the Multi Academy Trust.  The inspector met pupils to understand their views on the school.  The inspector did deep dives in the following subjects: early reading, science, and art. As part of the deep dives, the inspector met with leaders to discuss curriculum plans, 11–12 May 2022

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visited lessons with senior leaders, met with teachers, and looked at pupils’ work. They also looked at documents and work in history and computing.  The inspector considered the well-being and behaviour of pupils during lesson visits and around the school. They observed pupils as they arrived at school in the morning.  The inspector considered the effectiveness of safeguarding through discussions with leaders, teachers and support staff. They looked at records relating to safeguarding, including pre-employment checks.  The inspector spoke to a large proportion of the staff about their workload and well- being. They also looked at the pupil, staff and parent surveys and talked to a number of parents at the school gate.  The inspector reviewed a wide range of documentation provided by the school. This included the school evaluation, curriculum documentation and school policies.

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Inspection team

Aliki Constantopoulou, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 11–12 May 2022

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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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