St Mary's Bryanston Square CofE School

Inspection of St Mary’s Bryanston Square CofE School Enford Street, London W1H 1DL

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Early years provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Good 4 and 5 May 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love attending this small ‘village’ school. They enjoy learning the broad curriculum, and they comment that their learning is always fun. They work hard and are thoughtful towards others. Pupils appreciate the support that their teachers give them. They speak about how they are always helped to do their best, commenting that they feel very safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a cheerful and harmonious place. Pupils behave with high levels of kindness and respect for others. Bullying is very rare. If it does occur, it is dealt with swiftly and effectively. Pupils support and listen to one another.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils read enthusiastically. They learn a broad range of subjects and are taught how to make connections between subject content in different areas of the curriculum. Their learning is enriched by frequent trips and events, and pupils value this.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders want to help pupils to develop their characters and learn about how they can take practical steps to help others. Last year, for instance, the entire school community welcomed in over 30 children who were refugees from Afghanistan. Leaders, staff and pupils saw this as an opportunity to live out the school’s ethos of ‘excellence with compassion’.

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better?

Leaders’ work to develop the curriculum is rigorous, including in early years, where their actions have been particularly successful. They know what is working well, and they are tenacious in building on this and securing further improvements. This is a key reason why pupils learn so effectively in many subjects.

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better?

Leaders have ensured that the curriculum is broad and ambitious for all. They have precisely identified the knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn between Nursery and Year 6. Leaders and staff check pupils’ understanding and ensure they are ready to move on to the next stage of learning. For example, in physical education, pupils gradually increase their understanding of how to use space, build speed and throw and catch. They practise and use this knowledge often and in different contexts, such as when they play tag rugby.

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better?

The effective work that has been carried out by leaders on the curriculum is currently not consistently reflected in high national assessment outcomes in all areas. Leaders are already taking steps to address this. They are working on making sure that the delivery of the curriculum in all subjects is consistently well focused on the knowledge that pupils need to remember. 4 and 5 May 2023

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Subject leaders are trained to be experts in their areas of responsibility. They ensure that teaching consists of an engaging and well-sequenced series of lessons, which focuses on the aims of the planned curriculum. Curriculum design also weaves through opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding in a subject, such as by applying what they know in practical activities. An example of this is in science, where pupils use their knowledge to plant and grow nutritious food in the ‘edible garden’. This produce is then served in the canteen. In another example, pupils making scones learned about the nutritional value of the recipe, applying their mathematical knowledge to calculate quantities correctly. Teachers know their classes very well. They ensure that pupils with SEND are identified and well supported.

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Reading is the golden thread of the curriculum. Pupils follow a well-sequenced reading curriculum. Their progression in phonics is checked carefully. Pupils who need more help with learning to read are quickly identified. They receive additional support to help them catch up quickly. Pupils develop a love of reading. Leaders promote reading aloud, taking pupils to the local library and bookshop. They also invite parents and carers in to read with their children regularly and organise special, whole-school reading events. ‘Reading corners’ are found in every classroom. Pupils also learn and recite several poems each year.

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Learning in early years is exceptionally well planned to ensure that children are prepared for their next steps. It is also designed to support children to develop as resilient and ambitious learners.

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Pupils and staff treat each other with kindness and respect. Leaders consider how to make the school an engaging environment for learning and play. Pupils enjoy the range of activities on offer at breaktime, which includes hockey, scooting, hoopla and building dens.

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Leaders ensure that character is threaded through the curriculum in the form of the six school values. For example, pupils learn resilience by being supported to reflect on their mistakes. Pupils are encouraged to participate in the wider community through, for example, school councils and meeting local councillors. Leaders provide an extensive range of trips and activities, and these are made available to all pupils.

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Leaders support staff with training and workload, and they ensure that they and staff share expertise within a network of local schools.

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Governors are dedicated and well informed. They act as critical friends to school leaders.

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Parents are extremely positive about the school. They comment that it feels like a family. 4 and 5 May 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders are experts and well trained in safeguarding. They ensure that staff are aware of how to recognise and report risks, including those that occur most frequently in the local area. Leaders make appropriate referrals and work with local partners to ensure that pupils’ needs are met.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that pupils have a number of ways to report concerns and worries. Pupils are well supported and safe. Their concerns are dealt with promptly and effectively.

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Safeguarding

Pupils learn how to keep themselves safe through a well-planned curriculum. Leaders work with families to ensure the safety of pupils. Parents appreciate leaders’ collaborative approach.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The impact of leaders’ effective work to embed a broad and well-sequenced curriculum is not, at present, consistently reflected in pupils’ outcomes in national assessments in all areas. The delivery of the curriculum has not consistently pinpointed and prioritised the knowledge and skills that pupils needed to learn and remember over time. Leaders should continue their work to strengthen curriculum implementation, and, in turn, the development of pupils’ knowledge in the areas that they have identified across the school.

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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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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. 4 and 5 May 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255306 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 25 and 26 February 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school’s last section 48 inspection was carried out in January 2020. This is an inspection of the school’s religious character.  Leaders do not make any use of alternative provision.  The school has experienced significant change to staffing since the last inspection. The deputy headteacher joined the school in April 2020.  The school is currently experiencing a falling roll and high levels of pupil mobility.  Pupils in Year 3 and 4 are taught in the same class.  From October 2021 to April 2022, the school provided a new ‘Stars Class’, which catered temporarily to 35 refugee children.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 4 and 5 May 2023

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 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 this into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the leadership team to discuss curriculum and other areas of the school. They also spoke to governors, the local authority school improvement partner, and an adviser from the diocese.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, Spanish and physical education. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. All deep dives comprised learning in the early years, as well as key stage 1 and 2.  The inspector also considered the curriculum in some other subjects.

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 To inspect safeguarding, inspectors spoke to school leaders and governors and considered the views of pupils, staff and parents. They reviewed records of concerns referred to safeguarding leaders.  As well as speaking to parents, staff and pupils, inspectors considered responses to Ofsted’s surveys.

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Inspection team

Alice Clay, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Andrew Rigby Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 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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