St John the Divine Church of England Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St John the Divine Church of England Primary School Warham Street, Camberwell New Road, London SE5 0SX

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and enjoy their time at school. This is because the school has a strong sense of community, and everyone feels included. Leaders have high expectations for behaviour and make sure that everyone is treated fairly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils said that bullying is rare, showing maturity when explaining how they to resolve any differences. When bullying happens, adults quickly help to sort it out. This helps keep pupils safe and well cared for.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take pride in their work. They know what it takes to achieve and are encouraged to be confident and resilient. Pupils try hard in their lessons. For example, as part of physical education (PE), pupils took part in a mini-marathon and were motivated to keep going. In turn, this helped boost their enthusiasm for learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are beginning to develop curriculum plans to make sure that pupils learn everything they need to be successful. However, in subjects such as reading and mathematics, pupils do not cover all that they need to, particularly in key stage 1. Leaders are finding ways to address this. However, at present, pupils are not always ready for the next stage of their education.

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

Leaders have not thought carefully enough about curriculum design. They have developed subject plans to cover all content as set out by the national curriculum. However, teachers are given the freedom to choose the order in which different parts of the curriculum are taught. They do not always plan what needs to be taught in the right order. Leaders do not routinely check what has been taught in each class. This means that not all pupils 17 and 18 May 2022

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have the essential national curriculum knowledge they need for their next stage of learning.

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In Nursery, children learn important skills, such as how to share and take turns. Adults in the early years spend lots of time talking with children. This teaches them to learn new words. In Reception, children begin to read, write and count. However, longer-term planning does not build on these skills sufficiently and children do not always express themselves clearly.

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Children begin learning phonics as soon as they start school. However, again, lack of planning means that leaders have not settled on or embedded a phonics scheme effectively. This means that books are not well chosen because they are not well matched. Teachers lack direction because they do not have logical plans to follow. This has an impact on the wider curriculum. This is because weaknesses in reading mean that pupils cannot always access the curriculum, for example in mathematics.

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In mathematics, teachers do not ensure that key stage 1 pupils understand important ideas before moving on to something new. For example, pupils are taught that ‘two halves make a whole’ without understanding that the halves are equal in size. Sometimes there are big jumps between what pupils learn in one lesson and the next. As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. This also makes future learning more difficult.

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Pupils gain a lot from the PE activities they are involved in. These help to develop their confidence, leadership skills and contribution to team sports. Leaders have made sure that the essential knowledge they want all pupils to learn in PE is appropriately planned and delivered. This means that, in this subject, pupils learn what they should.

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Teachers have high expectations for behaviour and manage any problems well. They are also quick to recognise when pupils do the right thing.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are encouraged to do their best. Adults are sensitive to their needs and give them individual targets. However, as with all pupils, the curriculum has not been sufficiently planned to meet their needs, especially in reading. This means that pupils with SEND do not always gain the knowledge they need to help them to succeed.

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Pupils learn from various additional experiences, such as environmental projects in the landscaped garden. They are provided with their own tools, which gives them responsibility for looking after the garden, while teaching them to be independent.

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Leaders support the well-being of staff and pupils. Staff said that they are proud to be part of the team. Staff appreciate leaders’ actions to support them with their workload, although more could be done to help teachers deliver the curriculum well. Governors are keen to support the school but have not made sure that leaders have taken necessary steps to address the issues in the curriculum. 17 and 18 May 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders know pupils and their families well. They are acutely aware of challenges in the local community and respond well to them. Staff teach pupils how to manage some of the risks they might face. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online.

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Safeguarding

Staff receive regular training. They are vigilant and report concerns, no matter how small. This builds a picture of what is happening for individual pupils. Leaders follow up concerns diligently. Records show that they do so swiftly as they arise.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work with other agencies to support vulnerable pupils and their families. Leaders signpost places that families can go to for help.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Adults do not secure pupils’ understanding of how to read new sounds phonetically before moving on. Reading books are not always well matched to sounds that pupils know. Staff need more training on how to teach phonics well. Leaders must check that this is happening.  The curriculum has not been planned so that concepts in all subjects are taught in the right order. Teachers are left to do their own curriculum planning and do not routinely check that pupils learn things in a logical way. This means that the knowledge pupils gain is variable. They do not develop skills in the way they should. Leaders should support teachers to plan and deliver a coherently sequenced curriculum that builds pupils’ knowledge and skills systematically over time so that they are ready for the next stages in their education.  Governors have not challenged leaders with suitable rigour. This means that some areas of weakness identified in reading and mathematics have not been sufficiently

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

addressed. The governing body needs to take timely and decisive steps to ensure that all pupils receive a good quality of education.

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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. 17 and 18 May 2022

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This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2016.

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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. 17 and 18 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10200020 Type of school Primary

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form

Appropriate authority The governing body

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form

Date of previous inspection 14 and 15 October 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school uses one registered provider to run the after-school club.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher; senior leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator; subject leaders and teaching staff.  The inspector met with the chair of the local governing body.  The inspector met with the local authority school improvement adviser. 17 and 18 May 2022

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 The inspector looked in depth at early reading, mathematics and PE. In these subjects, inspection activities included discussions with the subject leader, visits to lessons, discussions with teachers, scrutiny of pupils’ work and discussions with pupils.  The lead inspector listened to two groups of pupils read and talked to them about their reading.  The inspector also met pupils to talk to them about their mathematics.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at breaktime and lunchtime.  She spoke formally with a group of pupils as well as talking to pupils, in lessons and around school.  The inspector met with the headteacher about the school’s safeguarding procedures.  She reviewed policies and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour, attendance and pupils who have left the school.  The inspector spoke to pupils and staff about how safe pupils are at school.  The inspector reviewed the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plans, minutes of

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governing body meetings and information on the school’s website.  The inspector took account of the 10 responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire.  The inspector took into consideration the six free-text responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Ogugua Okolo-Angus, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 17 and 18 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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