Kensington Avenue Primary School

Inspection of Kensington Avenue Primary School Kensington Avenue, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8BT

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Inspection dates: 3 and 4 July 2023, and 17 October 2023, and 5 and 6 March 2024

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The headteacher of this school is Clare Cranham. This school is part of The Manor Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Amanda Compton, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Alan Chambers. 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this diverse school. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils know that staff care and want them to do well. However, pupils, including in early years, require more help to achieve the academic success they are capable of.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils behave well in lessons. Pupils know routines and usually respond positively to behaviour reminders. They like getting ‘class points’ for making good choices. Pupils like that playtimes are calmer due to having more play equipment and referees for competitive games. However, some younger pupils are unsettled by the anti-social behaviours of some older pupils. They know adults will sort worries and that behaviour incidents are reducing, yet some unwelcome behaviours persist. Too many pupils are regularly absent from school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make a positive contribution to the local community. They have displayed work at the Croydon art fair. Pupils take on additional responsibilities as members of the school council, playground buddies or travel ambassadors. They benefit from trips that they may otherwise not experience, such as to London landmarks, museums and the zoo. Pupils decide which extra-curricular clubs they would like. Visits from the emergency and rescue services help them understand how to keep safe.

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better?

Pupils study a broad range of subjects. In some subjects, staff understand clearly the building blocks of knowledge and when to teach them. However, this is not the case in all subjects. Due to changes in staffing, some teachers are still getting to grips with curriculum content and how it builds on prior learning. This means some pupils, including in early years, are not learning knowledge across the curriculum in the detail or depth needed to fully prepare them for the next stage of their education.

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better?

Staff plan interesting activities. However, they do not routinely use checks on learning to gauge what pupils have remembered. Across the school, activities are not sufficiently adapted or extended to meet pupils’ needs, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers do not address misconceptions consistently. The school does not always precisely match additional support to pupils’ needs. As a result, some pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge.

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better?

Pupils like reading. The school has introduced a new phonics programme and provided appropriate training for staff. This is having a positive impact. Pupils in the younger years read books that are closely matched to the sounds that they are practising. Staff spot pupils who need extra help swiftly. However, the reading curriculum and support for weaker readers in older year groups is not as effective. 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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Gaps in older pupils’ reading knowledge are, therefore, not filled as quickly. While leaders have recognised this, work has not yet started to address this.

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The school identifies pupils with SEND in a timely way. Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that pupils who attend the specialist provision receive the help they need. Pupils with SEND have personalised learning plans. However, the targets the school sets for pupils are often not specific enough, including in early years. Therefore, additional support for pupils with SEND in the main school and in early years does not always meet their exact needs. This limits how well they achieve.

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Many pupils behave well in lessons and in the playground. The school is taking effective action to reduce the use of inappropriate language and the number of physical incidents. It has introduced a ‘behaving safely’ agreement for older pupils. However, while there has been a reduction in behaviour incidents, they do still regularly re-occur for certain pupils.

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There are too many pupils who are not attending school regularly. The school is working with families and agencies to address this. This has had some success with individual pupils. However, there is currently not an improving picture regarding attendance overall.

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There is a well-designed personal, health, social and economic education curriculum in place, starting in early years. Pupils learn about different relationships and the importance of respecting others. They gain an age-appropriate understanding of consent. Pupils understand different cultures and religions. They know how to stay safe online. They are being prepared well for life in modern Britain.

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Most staff, including those at the early stages of their careers, feel well supported by leaders to manage their workload and well-being. Leaders and staff show resilience in managing the more challenging aspects of their roles.

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Leaders, including governors and trustees, know their school well. Sometimes, due partly to unforeseen circumstances, leaders have not provided sufficient strategic oversight of the curriculum or other aspects of their school development plan. This has hindered the extent to which leaders have been able to address some aspects of school improvement.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Pupils who need help to manage their behaviours safely have clear support plans. There are risk assessments in place for pupils with more challenging behaviour. This includes pupils who access specific areas to help them manage their behaviour safely. However, leaders and governors do not review the strategies and risk assessments in place routinely to ensure that all staff are clear about who accesses 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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specific areas, for example the ‘soft room,’ and what the purpose and rationale is for this.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders, including governors, have limited oversight of the school curriculum. This has hindered the ongoing strategic direction of the school. The school needs to ensure that areas for curriculum improvement can be addressed sustainably.  In some subjects, the curriculum is not sufficiently clear on how knowledge builds over time or how it deepens what pupils have learned before. Teachers do not focus consistently on ensuring that pupils learn the most important concepts and subject knowledge. This means pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge in these subjects. The school should ensure that the knowledge pupils need to remember, and how this builds over time, is identified precisely, including for early years.  Teaching for pupils with SEND and for older pupils who are weaker readers is not always specific enough to meet pupils’ needs. This means that these pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school should ensure that teachers routinely

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

ensure that pupils with SEND, and those older readers who have fallen behind with their reading, are provided with learning activities and/or interventions that match their precise needs.  Teachers do not routinely use their checks on what pupils can already do and remember to adapt teaching and inform their planning. This also applies in the early years. As a result, pupils are not provided with learning that extends their knowledge. The school needs to ensure that all staff use assessment effectively to adapt lessons and provision to meet all the needs in their class well.  Too many pupils are not attending school regularly. This means they are missing out on their education. The school needs to continue its work to work with families and external agencies to overcome barriers to pupils attending school, so that attendance improves.  While arrangements for safeguarding are effective, the school should ensure that

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

policies and practices used to manage challenging behaviours are clearly known and understood by all staff and that the risk assessments in place are regularly checked and reviewed.

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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. 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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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. 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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School details

Inspection number 10268521 Type of school Primary

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School details

Website www.kensingtonavenueprimary.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Kensington Avenue Primary School converted to become an academy in February 2019. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  There have been several new teaching staff join the school over the inspection periods.  The school uses one alternative educational provider.  The school has a specialist provision for pupils with autistic spectrum disorder. There are currently 32 pupils who are on the school roll accessing this provision. All these pupils have an education and health care plan.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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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 that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors initially visited the school on 3 and 4 July 2023. Further visits were made on 17 October 2023 and on 5 and 6 March 2024 to gather additional evidence to ensure our evidence base was secure. The evidence gathered from all three visits was used to inform the final judgements.  Inspectors met with the headteacher; the deputy headteacher; assistant headteachers; early career teachers and their mentors; support staff; members of the governing body; and trustees.  Inspectors spoke with the local authority school improvement partner.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, art, science and history. During an additional visit to the school, deep dives were also carried

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out in early reading, mathematics, science and music. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils and looked at samples of their work. Inspectors also spoke to leaders about the curriculum in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors: 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. An inspector also spoke with the local authority education safeguarding officer.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation provided by leaders, including their priorities for improvement.  Inspectors considered the views of parents, pupils and staff through discussions and their responses to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Matea Marcinko, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Rebecca Iles-Smith His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Lisa Strong, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Sara Boyce, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Michael Williams His Majesty’s Inspector 3 and 4 July 2023, 17 October 2023 and 5 and 6 March 2024

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