Eastbury Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Eastbury Primary School Dawson Avenue, Barking, Essex IG11 9QQ

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Outcome

Eastbury Primary School continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Lisa Shepherd. This school is part of the Partnership Learning Trust which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Roger Leighton, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Saadat Mubashar.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about coming to school. They like learning a wide range of subjects and spending happy times with their friends in the playground and singing together.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave kindly and respectfully towards each other and adults in the school. Pupils are confident that putting a note into the ‘worry monster’ and speaking to a trusted adult will resolve any concerns. Staff ensure that pupils are safe in school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have high expectations that pupils achieve well. The school provides pupils with education, guidance and opportunities to prepare them for their next stages after primary school. The school ensures that all pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including those who attend the school’s additional resource provision (ARP), benefit from all that the school has to offer. Staff guide parents and carers to support their child’s learning at home.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders organise a wide range of educational activities for pupils that inspire new interests and broaden pupils’ experiences, including outings to museums, galleries and theatres. Pupils attend clubs that enrich their learning, for example pupils are proud to wear badges awarded at Emerald Club for their mathematics skills.

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

The school’s curriculum is overseen by a newly structured leadership team. Leaders have thought through clearly the order in which pupils are to be taught key content and ensure that the curriculum reflects the ambition of the national curriculum. Pupils learn and build 17 and 18 April 2024

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up knowledge and skills over time. They develop their understanding and use of technical vocabulary across different subjects.

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The school responded swiftly and productively following below-average results in national assessments in reading and mathematics at the end of Year 6 in 2023. Leaders identified key areas to improve and adjusted the school’s approaches to the teaching of early reading and mathematics. They revised systems to check how well pupils are learning. In early reading and phonics, staff swiftly identify gaps in pupils’ learning and provide well- planned and structured support to target the phonics sounds pupils need to revisit. This helps pupils to strengthen their knowledge of phonics and develop their reading skills and fluency.

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The school has established new routines for pupils to recap and reinforce prior learning. For example, in mathematics, teachers ensure that pupils are secure in their knowledge of essential skills before moving on to more demanding concepts. Teachers provide pupils with helpful ways to boost their recall, such as songs and rhymes in the early years.

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Pupils benefit from the school’s recent revisions to the curriculum across all subjects. For example, pupils in Year 4 link their prior and current learning in history to wider themes such as settlement and invasion. In a few subjects, pupils are in the early stages of studying the revised curriculum and are less secure in their understanding of more complex ideas.

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The school provides staff with regular training and guidance to ensure a consistent approach to the delivery of the curriculum. Teachers make adaptations to their teaching carefully to enable all pupils to access the same curriculum. Pupils with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language learn well alongside their peers. Pupils who attend the ARP participate in mainstream lessons.

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Staff were typically positive about the school. They appreciate training that the school provides to support them in their roles. The school has taken steps to reduce staff workload and support staff well-being. Some initiatives are quite new and leaders’ work is ongoing to ensure that all staff feel the benefit.

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From the early years onwards, staff ensure that routines for sensible conduct are well established as pupils move from one activity to the next. Pupils respond swiftly to their teachers’ reminders to be attentive. Staff develop effective strategies for any pupils who need extra support to manage their behaviour.

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Pupils attend school regularly. Staff identify and follow up any pupil who is absent from school. Where there are concerns about attendance, the school works closely with pupils and their families to help improve their attendance rates.

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The school provides pupils with age-appropriate guidance on ways to stay safe including online and in the wider community. Pupils respond maturely to taking on responsibilities. Pupil reading ambassadors help to organise classroom libraries and encourage others to choose from the school’s wide range of high-quality texts. Children enjoy listening to stories, and learn to appreciate books from the earliest opportunities. 17 and 18 April 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, recent revisions of the curriculum are in the early stages of being implemented. Occasionally, pupils are less secure in their learning of more complex ideas. The school should continue the delivery of the revised curriculum so that pupils deepen their understanding of key concepts in these subjects.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2019.

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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 funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, 17 and 18 April 2024

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 17 and 18 April 2024

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School details

Website www.eps.barking-dagenham.sch.uk/

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 5 and 6 February 2019

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, there have been several changes to the structure of the leadership team.  The school is part of the Partnership Learning Trust.  The school’s APR provides specialist provision for up to 12 pupils who are deaf.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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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. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with school leaders including the chief executive officer and representatives of the governing body, including the chair of the governing body. 17 and 18 April 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors 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. Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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.  Inspectors considered the views of pupils, parents and staff in response to Ofsted’s online surveys. Inspectors also looked at analysis of responses to surveys carried out by the school. An inspector held informal conversations with parents and considered

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correspondence sent to inspectors from parents.

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Inspection team

Amanda Fraser, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Annabel Davies His Majesty’s Inspector 17 and 18 April 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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