Cranford Park Academy

Inspection of a good school: Cranford Park Academy Phelps Way, Harlington, Hayes UB3 4LQ

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Outcome

Cranford Park Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and really enjoy coming to school. They are polite and enjoy positive working relationships with staff. Pupils appreciate the wide range of learning and sporting experiences on offer. Leaders are aspirational about what pupils can achieve. They have high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. The school is calm and orderly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe at this school. Teachers deal with any concerns quickly. Staff know pupils well. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive excellent support. Parents and carers appreciate the school’s inclusive and caring environment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders plan a wide range of opportunities to promote pupils’ wider development. For example, pupils are proud to be eco-ambassadors, and they help around the extensive school grounds. Reading ambassadors promote a love of reading and recently visited The British Library. Children in the early years enjoy outdoor visits to Cranford Countryside Park. Pupils are taught how to be safe. This includes visits from the fire brigade and police, as well as workshops on, for instance, road safety.

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

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum from the early years to Year 6. They have identified the knowledge they want pupils to learn over time. All pupils, including those with SEND, experience a broad and balanced curriculum. Children in the early years build a strong foundation for future learning. They leave the Reception Year fully prepared and ready for their learning in Year 1.

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

Typically, teachers make regular and informative checks on pupils’ learning. Pupils achieve well in mathematics, starting from the early years onwards. In some subjects, leaders have not checked the effectiveness of the curriculum as accurately. In these subjects, leaders do not ensure that teachers use pupils’ assessment information as effectively to 10 and 11 May 2023

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build on their prior learning. Teachers spend too long on assessment activities rather than identifying and addressing pupils’ misconceptions with precision.

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Leaders promote a love of reading. Staff ensure that pupils read a diverse range of texts. They are proud of their new ‘Diversity Library’, which has an extensive range of high- quality texts. The new phonics programme starts in the early years. Children get off to a good start to learning to read in Reception. Pupils read books that are well matched to the sounds they are learning. However, support for the minority of pupils who speak English as an additional language (EAL) and who have joined the school part way through their primary education is not as routinely strong.

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Leaders have the same ambitions for pupils with SEND as they do for all other pupils. These pupils study the full curriculum. Staff make necessary adaptations for pupils with SEND and break down learning into small steps. This is appreciated by many parents.

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Not only do staff support pupils, but they provide support to their families and local community too. They provide a range of well-attended workshops for parents. Parents value the time they can spend with staff to discuss any concerns they may have. Teachers ensure that disruptions to learning are rare. In early years, staff help children to follow routines and procedures consistently.

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Pupils talk confidently about friendships and healthy relationships. Children in early years enjoy learning about nature. Staff help children to develop their independence. Leaders provide opportunities for pupils to take on responsibilities. This includes joining the school council and a range of roles as ambassadors.

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Those responsible for governance make sure that they support and challenge school leaders. They have strong and historic links with the local community. The trustees and local academy council understand the school’s priorities for improvement.

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Staff feel that leaders manage their workload well. Leaders actively support staff well- being. Staff equally appreciate the high-quality training they receive to improve their leadership and practice, including training from the trust.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that a strong culture of safeguarding exists in the school. Staff understand that keeping children safe is everyone’s responsibility. They receive regular safeguarding training. Leaders are alert to any signs that pupils might be at risk and act immediately and effectively to deal with any concerns that arise.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum has been designed to encourage pupils to stay safe. For example, older pupils work with the Metropolitan Police on a project called ‘Future Life’ to understand risks around social media, gangs and knife crime. 10 and 11 May 2023

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders do not ensure that there is strong routine support for a minority of pupils who speak EAL who join the school part way through their primary education. This limits their fluency and confidence in reading. Leaders must ensure that all staff receive the training necessary to deliver the phonics programme to all pupils so that outcomes improve even further.  In some foundation subjects, summative assessment is not providing teachers with useful information to enable them to identify gaps in pupils’ knowledge and plan next steps in learning with precision. As a result, teachers are spending time on assessment activities that are not useful. Leaders should ensure that the use of summative assessment in these subjects is informative and allows teachers to prepare pupils fully for future content.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually, this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2013.

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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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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. 10 and 11 May 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10268649 Type of school Primary

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Chair of the academy council

Date of previous inspection 12 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is governed by an academy council. School leaders and the academy council are held accountable for their work by the Park Federation Academy Trust Board.  The school is much larger than the average primary school.  The school uses no alternative provision.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the principal, vice-principals and other school leaders. Inspectors held meetings with the chair of the board of trustees, the chief executive officer of the Federation Park Academy Trust and representatives of the local academy council, including the chair. 10 and 11 May 2023

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and physical education. For each deep dive, inspectors met with subject leaders, considered the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers and pupils, and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors considered the curriculum in other subjects.  Inspectors reviewed a wide range of documentation related to safeguarding. This included the record of pre-employment checks.  Inspectors met with parents at the start of the school day and considered the views of parents, pupils and staff, including through responses to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Sean Flood, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Nick Hitchen Ofsted Inspector 10 and 11 May 2023

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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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