Fairholme Primary School

Inspection of Fairholme Primary School Peacock Avenue, Bedfont, Feltham TW14 8ET

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Inspection dates: 22 and 23 October 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 22 and 23 October 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ needs, and those of the wider school community, are the driving force for all that leaders do. This starts with parental engagement, promoting attendance and ensuring pupils and families have what they need to get the most from what the school has to offer.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders expect all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. The broad and balanced curriculum helps pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding across different subjects. Typically, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s values of respect, honesty, responsibility, kindness, self-belief and aspiration underpin everything the school does. Pupils and staff alike know and understand these values. They are realised, and relationships are strong. Pupils are happy and safe and behave sensibly, showing care and consideration for others. There is an appreciation of the importance of being safe, respectful and ready to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their school. They know they are listened to. There are a wide range of roles available to help build responsibility, including head boy and girl, attendance champions, positions on the eco-council and anti-bullying ambassadors. Elections for these roles provide pupils with an understanding of democracy and help to prepare them for life in modern Britain.

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

The school has developed an ambitious curriculum that sets out the knowledge pupils need to learn and remember. The curriculum is organised logically, with regular opportunities for pupils to revisit and recap previous learning. This helps them to understand and learn more complex ideas over time. For example, in mathematics, children in early years practise counting and recognising numbers. This helps them to add, subtract, multiply and divide as they get older. Similarly, in history, learning about ‘now and then’ supports more abstract ideas such as chronology and legacy later on.

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

Developing a love of reading has been a key priority for leaders, not only in school but within the community. Teachers are well trained and deliver the phonics programme and reading interventions with precision. Those at risk of falling behind are identified quickly and supported to catch up. Pupils practise reading using books that are closely matched to the sounds they have learned. This helps them to read with accuracy. Reading fluency, however, is taking longer to establish for many due to the barriers with spoken language. This is reflected in the national outcomes for reading.

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

Many children arrive in early years with significant gaps in their development, most notably in speech, language and communication. Vocabulary development, therefore, is a whole school priority. In early years, children are well supported to develop their language. From their low starting points, children learn to express their ideas, and staff help them to speak in full sentences. The approach to developing language, however, is 22 and 23 October 2024

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not as systematic as it needs to be for children to catch up. While the early years curriculum is well thought through, the important knowledge and vocabulary children need to secure to prepare them for what comes next is not consistently clear. Consequently, there are some ideas and words that children are not familiar with when they begin Year 1. This, along with children’s lack of fluency in spoken language, continues to impact their reading and writing fluency and to understand more complex themes as they get older.

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Pupils with SEND are accurately identified and supported well. Adults are knowledgeable regarding pupils’ specific needs. They know the strategies required to help, and they make suitable adaptations to enable these pupils to access the same learning as their peers where this is possible. Oversight of the impact of this work is still being developed. This means the strategies and interventions that make the most difference are not consistently identified and developed further.

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Pupils behave well. This is because there are clear and consistent routines and expectations. Most pupils have good attendance and punctuality. The school has focused on increasing this further and reducing persistent absence. This is having an impact. There is highly effective support in place for those whose attendance needs to improve.

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The offer for pupils’ broader development is a strength of the school. It has been designed to promote important ideas, develop language and address all aspects of safety and safeguarding. Building strength of character and aspirations for the future is also a key focus. For example, through the design and technology curriculum, pupils are introduced to career opportunities with links to local businesses. Similarly, aspiration and a sense of belonging are also promoted through the school ‘house’ system, with pupils earning points through various school activities and events.

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Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the support they receive to manage their workload and well-being. Despite senior leaders being relatively new in their posts, there is a well-thought- through plan in place to continue to drive improvement. This has been created with the support and oversight of an experienced governing body.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In early years, some of the knowledge and vocabulary that children should secure to prepare them for future learning is not explicitly identified. As a result, children do not fully understand some important concepts, and language, in readiness for their learning at the start of Year 1. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum and 22 and 23 October 2024

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vocabulary builds sequentially, with a clear alignment between early years and what comes next.  The school’s oversight of the impact of interventions for pupils with SEND is not well developed. This means that the school is not clear on what is making the most difference for these pupils. The school should ensure that interventions for pupils with SEND are carefully tracked and evaluated to ensure greater impact.

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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, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 22 and 23 October 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 19 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this school

 The school offers a breakfast and after-school club.  The current headteacher was appointed in September 2023.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have 22 and 23 October 2024

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taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the assistant headteachers and members of staff. They also spoke with a representative of the local authority and met with four governors, including the chair of governors.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, discussed the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of their work.  The inspectors also considered the curriculum in 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.

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 The inspectors looked at a range of documents, including leaders’ priorities for improvement.  The views of pupils, parents and staff were gathered through discussions. Responses to Ofsted’s surveys were considered.

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Inspection team

Samantha Ingram, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Raj Mehta Ofsted Inspector 22 and 23 October 2024

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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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