Shacklewell Primary School

Inspection of a school judged outstanding for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Shacklewell Primary School Shacklewell Row, Hackney, London E8 2EA

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Outcome

Shacklewell Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love coming to this school and attend exceptionally well. They are friendly and they and the staff live up to their agreed values, such as being kind. Staff make learning interesting and exciting. Pupils thrive on the many enrichment activities on offer. These help them to deepen their knowledge and develop their skills and interests. Pupils and staff enjoy excellent working relationships. Pupils know that if they have a concern, staff will give them sound advice and sort issues out.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has extremely high ambitions for pupils’ academic achievement. These aspirations are realised. The school ensures that pupils gain a broad and deep knowledge, right from the start of the early years and across the range of subjects.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is impeccable. They develop very strong social and collaborative skills. This leads to a calm, productive and respectful school environment.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s work to develop pupils’ character is exemplary. Pupils are taught to value difference and encouraged to persevere when things get tough. They have many opportunities to contribute to the wider community, such as supporting local foodbanks. They also have opportunities to share their learning and views with others. For example, pupils make presentations to overseas visitors on the school’s participation in an international scheme to promote learning with technology. 1 and 2 April 2025

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

The school has a very ambitious curriculum. It defines the exact knowledge it wants pupils to learn and when. It ensures that right from the Nursery Year all the way through to Year 6, pupils build their knowledge very well.

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

The school makes sure that pupils gain the foundational knowledge that they need to access the full curriculum with success. The school has well-established curriculums for early reading, writing and mathematics. The phonics programme, expertly taught from the early years onwards, ensures that pupils learn to read with confidence and fluency. Pupils use their increasingly fluent mathematical skills to tackle more complex problems over time. The school has embedded a transcription and writing scheme. Pupils have lots of writing practice. They develop their letter formation and spelling well, and apply this knowledge to compose their own writing. Staff identify any pupils who fall behind in all these areas and help them to catch up quickly.

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

Pupils achieve highly across the curriculum. Staff have very strong subject-specific knowledge and teaching skills. This is because they enjoy a programme of comprehensive training and coaching support. They also draw on the wide range of resources available to present new learning in a clear manner. As a matter of routine, teachers check on pupils’ learning. They give pupils useful guidance on how to improve their work. Staff also address any misconceptions. There is a strong emphasis on developing children’s language and communication skills in the early years. This continues in Year 1 and beyond, with the school ensuring that pupils expand their subject-specific vocabulary effectively. Teachers ensure that pupils review prior learning as a matter of course. Pupils thus remember key knowledge securely over time.

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

The needs of disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are rigorously identified. Teachers make suitable adaptations to learning to meet these pupils’ specific needs. As appropriate, the school provides extra support to help pupils with SEND meet their individual learning goals and access the curriculum with success.

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

Staff set high expectations for pupils’ behaviour, establishing routines from the early years onwards. For example, staff teach children how to work with each other as ‘talk partners’, by facing each other and taking turns to listen and speak as partner one and partner two. Pupils across the school work with diligence in class and disruptions are very rare. These positive attitudes contribute to pupils’ success in their studies. Rates of absence are low.

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

The school prepares pupils extremely well for life beyond the school. It provides pupils with comprehensive age-appropriate healthy relationships education. Pupils are taught about the value of money, budgeting and saving. For example, they are supported to understand the difference between a want and a need. They also spend a day observing work in a bank. Every week pupils work in mixed-aged ‘here to’ advocacy groups. For example, pupils in the ‘Here to Combat Loneliness’ group visited a care home. They read and played games with the residents. The ‘Save the Planet’ group planted fruit trees in the school garden and persuaded the leaders to install recycle bins in all the classrooms. 1 and 2 April 2025

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School leaders and governors keep all aspects of the school’s work under tight scrutiny to inform improvement. They successfully meet the school’s changing needs and make decisions that are always in the best interests of pupils. They have continued to provide excellence across the board. Staff appreciate the measures the school takes to reduce their workload and to support their well-being. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024, graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged outstanding for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 outstanding for overall effectiveness in March 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. 1 and 2 April 2025

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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). 1 and 2 April 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Nicole Reid (executive headteacher) Rory McGrath (headteacher) Website www.shacklewell.hackney.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 26 and 27 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the New Wave Federation of four local primary schools.  Since the previous inspection, the headteacher was appointed executive headteacher of the federation and the deputy headteacher to headteacher of this school.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The early years includes a provision for two-year-olds.

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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 inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in this evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the federation’s executive headteacher and other senior leaders. 1 and 2 April 2025

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 The inspector met with a representative of the local authority.  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 pupils’ work.  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 spoke with leaders responsible for SEND. He also looked at information about the support for pupils who have additional needs.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour in class and around the school site.  The inspector spoke with groups of pupils and considered the responses of the pupils who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire for pupils.  The inspector held discussions with staff and considered the responses to Ofsted’s

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questionnaire for staff.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted’s Parent View, including the comments received by Ofsted’s free-text facility

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Inspection team

David Radomsky, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 1 and 2 April 2025

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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 looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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