Coppermill Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Coppermill Primary School Edward Road, Walthamstow, London E17 6PB

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Outcome

Coppermill Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Coppermill is a school where everyone gets to know each other really well. It is described by many as feeling like a village in the heart of the city. Pupils, parents and carers all appreciate the school’s welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. It is a place where every pupil is known, heard and understood. This makes the school a special part of the local community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school and achieve well. Their behaviour in lessons and at other times is excellent. They rise to the high expectations set for them. Pupils are keen to get stuck into their learning. They jump at the chance to talk about their work and share their ideas. Pupils particularly like the way that staff make learning meaningful and relevant to them. For example, in mathematics, pupils used all sorts of prior knowledge to plan and design their business models for the upcoming enterprise fair. In geography, pupils in Year 6 were enthused to spend time studying a selection of local area maps to see how the features of Walthamstow have changed over the last two hundred years.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take part in a wide variety of exciting activities which help them to understand the part they play in society. Pupils are proud that Coppermill recently won a prestigious award for its work on sustainability. They particularly enjoyed having the chance to work with an architect to design buildings for the future. Their work is displayed at a London gallery for others to learn from. The school’s emphasis on high-quality literature makes a real and important contribution to Coppermill’s ethos. For example, the recent whole- school focus on the text, ‘Red – A Crayon’s Story’, is just one example of how pupils throughout the school learn about themselves and others through themes, such as identity.

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

Pupils are keen to learn and they work hard. Pupils achieve well, particularly in English and mathematics. This is reflected by the high-quality work in pupils’ books in each year group as well as the standards reached in external assessments at the end of Year 6. 13 and 14 June 2024

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Pupils build up their knowledge securely. They use what they have been taught previously to help them to tackle new things. For example, in mathematics, pupils used multiplication facts and fractions accurately to help them tell the time to five-minute intervals. Pupils’ secure knowledge of division and subtraction helped them to convert imperial and metric units of measure.

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The school has worked to continually improve the curriculum. For example, since the previous inspection, the school’s science curriculum has been developed further with a strong emphasis on developing pupils’ knowledge and skills over time. The school’s curriculum is ambitious. It is sequenced to allow pupils to build and deepen their knowledge of different concepts. It all begins in the early years. For example, children in Reception created ‘bug hotels’ for the creatures in the garden. They used the magnifying glasses to spot the differences between the woodlouse and the spider. Meanwhile, another group talked to the ‘passengers’ in the pretend airport about their forthcoming flight to Australia. They remembered what they had been taught about animals and climate as they made koalas and eucalyptus leaves from dough. In Year 2, pupils categorised animals effectively. Pupils knew, for example, why polar bears have thick

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white fur and that camels close their nostrils to keep out the sand. Older pupils debated the impact of deforestation and the part they could play in reducing it.

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In most subjects, the school has established procedures to find out what pupils know and can do. But in a few subjects, the school is working out how to check that pupils know and remember the intended content of the curriculum.

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Leaders ensure that staff are well trained and have the subject knowledge needed to deliver the curriculum effectively. Staff feel extremely well supported by leaders, governors and each other. This all contributes to the highly positive relationships throughout Coppermill. Everyone is focused on helping pupils to become fluent and confident readers. The phonics programme is delivered consistently well. Pupils, especially those who are at risk of falling behind, get the help they need to learn to read and spell accurately. The school’s work to identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well established. Staff are well trained to help these pupils to achieve success. In the Nursery, staff used children’s interests, such as food, to motivate them to take part and learn. Further up the school, staff spend time with pupils to introduce and explain new words that they will need for future learning.

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Pupils’ rates of attendance are high. Their positive attitudes ensure that everyone gets the chance to learn without any fuss. Pupils who need extra support to manage their feelings and emotions get the help they need. This helps them to get back on track whenever they become upset or anxious. Pupils look out for each other. For example, in the early years, children advised each other about how to solve problems with the paints without being asked. ‘Junior ambassadors’ help the youngest pupils with their learning and friendships.

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Pupils are taught in meaningful and age-appropriate ways about important themes, such as keeping themselves safe, healthy relationships and equality. Pupils contribute to the life of the school. For example, pupils organise events to raise funds for charities. Pupils on the eco-council were the force behind implementing a whole-school sustainability action 13 and 14 June 2024

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plan. Representatives on the school council make a real difference. For example, they have recently worked hard to establish different zones in the playground at lunchtimes.

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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 of the foundation subjects, the school’s approaches for checking what pupils know and can do over time are not firmly established. Where this is the case, this can sometimes affect how well pupils develop their knowledge. The school should continue its work to ensure that, in these subjects, everyone is clear about how to check that pupils know and remember important concepts before moving on to new 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 first ungraded inspection since we the school to be good in January 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. 13 and 14 June 2024

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 13 and 14 June 2024

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School details

Local authority London Borough of Waltham Forest

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 22 and 23 January 2019 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Coppermill Primary School is a one-form entry school but, at the time of this inspection, had two forms of entry in Year 6.  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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in his evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and inclusion manager. He also met with the school business manager and five governors, including the chair of governors. 13 and 14 June 2024

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 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 sampled the curriculum documentation and work in pupils’ books 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.  The inspector met with groups of pupils and staff. He spent time in each year group and observed pupils during social times. The inspector reviewed the responses to Ofsted Parent View as well as the staff and pupil online surveys.

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Inspection team

Gary Rawlings, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 13 and 14 June 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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