West Hill Primary School

Inspection of a good school: West Hill Primary School 5 Merton Road, London SW18 5ST

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Inspection dates: 27 and 28 February 2024

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Outcome

West Hill Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school serves a small and close-knit community. Relationships between staff and pupils are professional, positive and warm. Staff know pupils and their families well. Pupils’ safety and well-being is treated with the utmost importance by staff. Pupils know that they have lots of adults at school who will help them with any worries or concerns.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are taught the school’s three simple rules: ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ which are followed consistently across the school. Staff are role models of the behaviour that is expected and motivate pupils to try their best. For example, ‘recognition boards’ in classrooms are used to praise positive behaviour and pupils strive keenly to achieve awards such as ‘star of the week’. Pupils are generally polite and respectful. They try hard in lessons to reach leaders’ expectations and want to do well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school offers a range of opportunities for pupils to try different activities. Many pupils attend various after-school clubs, such as dance, board games, sports and art. Pupils have the chance to showcase their musical talents, for example, in a singing concert with other local schools at the Royal Albert Hall. Pupils in Year 6 have opportunities to try new activities, including DJing, through partnerships with a local school.

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

The school has gone through a period of change since the previous inspection. With the support of the governing body, leaders have brought stability to the school and made sustainable improvements. Curriculum development is at the heart of this and the school is in the process of reviewing the curriculum. Staff are well supported by leaders. They are working hard to implement curriculum changes as they know this will benefit their pupils. Some changes are not embedded, including the use of checks to measure what pupils know and remember over time. Pupils generally demonstrate a secure understanding of what they have been taught. In recent national assessments at the end of Year 6, pupils’ attainment was in line with national averages. 27 and 28 February 2024

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All pupils learn a wide range of subjects. They benefit from specialist teachers in subjects like physical education and music. Staff receive regular training that supports them to deliver the new curriculum and refine their practice. For example, staff spoke about recent training on using a consistent approach to recap previous teaching at the start of lessons. This helps pupils to recall what they have learned and apply this knowledge to new learning. For example, pupils in geography in Year 4 used a globe to revise their previous learning about features such as the equator and tropics before moving on to learning about different regions and countries in Africa.

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In subjects where the curriculum is more established, subject content is planned out logically to develop pupils’ knowledge over time. In mathematics for instance, learning is broken down into small steps and builds on what pupils have learned before. Teachers give pupils opportunities to practise what they have learned to help embed knowledge in their long-term memory. For example, pupils in Years 2 to 6 have short daily sessions to improve their fluency in using multiplication tables. Children in the early years are well prepared for Year 1 and beyond. Children in Reception enjoyed ordering numbers with the help of a puppet ‘Tony Tiger’. They identified which numbers came next in a ‘staircase’ sequence, explaining which number was one more than the previous one.

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The school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) accurately and at an early stage. Sometimes, teaching is not as well adapted as it could be to meet pupils’ needs and abilities, including for pupils with SEND. On occasion, this affects some pupils’ concentration in class and they become restless and their attention wanes. Pupils’ behaviour for the most part is positive and classrooms are calm and orderly. Staff manage any incidents of inattentiveness effectively to avoid interruptions to learning the curriculum.

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Reading is a daily part of school life here. The school uses a range of strategies to encourage pupils to read widely, such as visits from authors, attendance at local reading events where pupils can listen to poets and visits to the local library. Pupils start learning to read as soon as possible. Staff are well trained in delivering the phonics programme. Pupils in Reception and Year 1 have daily phonics lessons and read books to practise the sounds they have learned. Staff identify any pupils who may be falling behind. They help them to catch up quickly and become fluent readers.

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Rates of attendance are high. The school tracks attendance carefully to identify any pupils whose attendance is a cause for concern. Staff work with families to address any barriers to regular school attendance. Pupils are taught to respect different points of view and to do the right thing including through class discussions. Pupils in Year 5 for example, debated the ethics of demolishing a block of flats to create a public park. The school broadens pupils’ experiences by taking them on educational outings to various museums and places of interest in London.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 27 and 28 February 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum across the school. Some changes to the curriculum are not fully embedded. As a result, some variability remains in delivery of new curriculum content and in the use of assessment to identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge. The school should continue to embed the new curriculum.  Sometimes, when teaching is not routinely well adapted for pupils’ abilities and needs, including those with SEND, some pupils’ concentration falters. The school should sharpen the adaptation of teaching so that the needs of all pupils are met securely across the curriculum.

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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 September 2014.

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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' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium 27 and 28 February 2024

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funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 27 and 28 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Tamazin Steele and Matthew Halliday (co- chairs) Headteacher Richard Milsom

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11 December 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed in April 2023 after a period of interim headship after the previous co-headteachers left in December 2022. The deputy headteacher took up post in September 2023.  The school is now a one-form entry primary school having previously had two classes in each year.  The school organises and manages a breakfast club and after-school club to provide wraparound care for pupils.  The school uses one registered alternative provider.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in her evaluation. 27 and 28 February 2024

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 The inspector held discussions with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and other staff with leadership responsibilities.  The inspector met with both co-chairs of the governing body and had a discussion with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, geography and mathematics. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector also considered the curriculum in other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central record, took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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 The inspector considered responses to the survey, Parent View, and to the online staff survey.

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Inspection team

Jude Wilson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 27 and 28 February 2024

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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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