St Mary's CofE Primary School

Inspection of St Mary's CofE Primary School Church Lane, Hornsey, London N8 7BU

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Inadequate Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 29 and 30 March 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils who attend the Church Lane site and younger pupils at the school’s other site in Rectory Gardens enjoy school. However, several pupils reported concerns about other pupils’ behaviour. Some pupils in Years 5 and 6 felt unsafe in the playground. This is because of ongoing incidences of physical aggression and use of racist, homophobic and harmful sexual language among older pupils. Although pupils report them, these incidents are not managed effectively or consistently. Leaders have not sought advice or referred concerns swiftly enough. They have not followed guidance when managing serious incidents. As a result of all this, safeguarding is not effective.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The curriculum is generally well planned and helps pupils to learn important ideas and produce some work of good quality. However, the teaching of reading is variable. This does not ensure pupils develop the fluency and confidence they need to access the broader curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy participating in after-school activities such as sports, gymnastics, coding, drama and music. Pupils take on additional responsibilities through membership of the school council and benefit from contributing to the local community. For example, pupils collect for the local food bank and have performed at the Royal Albert Hall.

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better?

The teaching of phonics is uneven because not all staff in the early years and in Years 1 and 2 follow the school’s current phonics programme. This means pupils do not learn sounds in the same coherent order. This makes it difficult for leaders to assess what pupils have understood and what they need to learn next. Although leaders have provided appropriate training, staff in the early years and in Years 1 and 2 do not model phonic sounds consistently well. In the early years and in Years 1 and 2, errors and misconceptions in pupils’ phonic knowledge when reading are sometimes missed. The books provided to weaker readers are not carefully matched to the sounds they have learned. This means they do not have the opportunity they need to practise basic sounds before moving on to more complex reading. As a result, pupils do not read with sufficient fluency and confidence.

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better?

The curriculum matches the scope and content of what is expected nationally. Leaders have ensured the curriculum is organised so that pupils revisit important ideas. This helps them apply their understanding to more challenging concepts. For example, children in the early years talk about the appearance and texture of different materials. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 build on this prior learning to explain how materials are chosen for specific purposes. They can then use this knowledge of materials to understand more abstract ideas such as states of matter. However, teachers do not routinely use assessment effectively to check whether pupils have 29 and 30 March 2022

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understood key ideas before moving on to new content. As a result, some pupils confuse concepts, for example in science.

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Leaders have prioritised the important words they expect pupils to know and understand. For example, in mathematics, children in the early years are taught key vocabulary relating to number and shape. This helps pupils to explain their mathematical understanding with increasing confidence and accuracy when they come across more complex ideas. Similarly, in French, pupils learn and practise naming colours, animals and body parts. They can use this knowledge effectively to build increasingly detailed spoken and written descriptions of animals.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are accurately identified. These pupils are well supported to access the same curriculum as their peers. This is because staff make sure their tasks and resources are adapted to meet their needs.

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The behaviour of some older pupils is poor. Learning in lessons is sometimes disrupted and there are incidences of physical and verbal bullying in the playground. Leaders have not ensured that staff have consistent expectations or are vigilant to these behaviours. Leaders are, rightly, seeking to improve attendance and punctuality. A range of strategies are in place to ensure pupils attend regularly and on time.

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The curriculum has been designed to consider pupils’ personal development. Pupils are encouraged to stay physically and emotionally safe and are taught to value and celebrate diversity. However, there are still ongoing incidents of older pupils using harmful and discriminatory language. Leaders have not addressed this sufficiently.

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Governors have a secure understanding of the quality of education provided to pupils. However, they have not received sufficient information about the weaknesses in pupils’ behaviour and safeguarding practices. This means they do not have an accurate view of the school’s effectiveness and priorities for improvement. Staff recognise that leaders have put systems in place to help them manage their workload. However, they have differing views about how effective these systems are.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders do not fulfil their duties to keep pupils safe, including seeking advice or referring concerns to outside agencies in a timely way. Leaders have not ensured that safeguarding arrangements closely follow the guidance issued by the Secretary of State. As a result, serious concerns go unchecked for too long. This places pupils at increased risk of harm, and makes some pupils feel unsafe at school.

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Safeguarding

Staff have received safeguarding training and know how to report concerns. However, not all staff deal with concerns raised by pupils with urgency. Systems to 29 and 30 March 2022

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manage safeguarding are disorganised. Records are not kept up to date. This means that leaders do not have the most current information about pupils and their families. Common concerns about behaviour and safeguarding over time are not identified. Consequently, this prevents leaders addressing them in a planned and co- ordinated way. This had led to unaddressed physical and verbal bullying becoming commonplace amongst older pupils.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective. Leaders must ensure that all concerns and serious incidents are managed in line with statutory guidance. Leaders must seek advice from, and refer concerns to, external services promptly. This includes pupils potentially missing from education, or immediately after any serious incidents, such as those involving harmful sexual behaviour.  Leaders have an insufficient understanding of the poor behaviour demonstrated by some older pupils that makes other pupils feel unsafe. Leaders must ensure all staff have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Leaders must check that staff are vigilant to pupils’ behaviour towards each other, especially in the playground. Leaders must ensure that behaviour incidents are managed consistently and in line with the school’s own policies.  The teaching of phonics does not show fidelity to the school’s new phonics programme. As a result, pupils do not develop reading fluency, accuracy and

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

confidence to access the curriculum. Leaders should provide training to develop the subject knowledge of all staff. Leaders must check that the books provided to younger pupils, including weaker readers, consistently match the sounds they have learned.  Teachers do not routinely check what pupils have understood and identify errors or misconceptions in pupils’ learning. Leaders must ensure that assessment is used to check what pupils have learned and to address any gaps in pupils’ recall before introducing new concepts.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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 . 29 and 30 March 2022

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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. 29 and 30 March 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10217068 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 19 June 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 St. Mary’s CofE Primary School is much larger than the average-sized primary school.  The school is based on two sites.  Since the last routine inspection in June 2018, there have been changes to the leadership of the school. The current headteacher was appointed in September 2018 and the current deputy headteacher in September 2019.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  This is a voluntary-aided Church of England school. The last section 48 inspection was in 2016, when this aspect of the school’s work was judged to be good. The next section 48 inspection has not yet been scheduled. 29 and 30 March 2022

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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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 inspection team completed deep dives in these subjects: reading, science, computing and history. To do this, they met with subject leaders, held discussions with staff and pupils, visited lessons and looked at pupils’ work. Inspectors also considered leaders’ plans and pupils’ work in mathematics and modern foreign languages.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school and priorities for improvement.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, a selection of subject leaders, teachers, educational support and administrative staff.  Inspectors met with four members of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. Inspectors also held discussions with representatives of the

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Information about this inspection

local authority, the Haringey Learning Partnership and the London Diocesan Board for Schools.  The inspection team reviewed the arrangements for safeguarding by scrutinising records and through discussions with staff and pupils.  The views of pupils, parents and staff were gathered through discussions and in responses to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Nick Turvey, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Dawn Titus Ofsted Inspector 29 and 30 March 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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