Cardinal Primary School

Inspection of a school judged outstanding for overall effectiveness before September 2024: Cardinal Road Infant and Nursery School Cardinal Road, Feltham TW13 5AL

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Outcome

Cardinal Road Infant and Nursery 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 at Cardinal Road are kind. Manners are emphasised by staff consistently. Pupils rise to the school’s high expectations and behave excellently. Pupils understand how to raise any concerns they may have about behaviour and bullying, if this does occur. Pupils are rightly proud of their school and keen to invite others into their learning and play. Pupils know how to stay safe, including in school and out in the local community. They know who their trusted adults are.

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What is it like to attend this school?

As part of the school’s ‘curriculum drivers’, pupils benefit from a rich and wide set of experiences. They contribute to their local area, for example, through the harvest festival. Pupils have opportunities to eat together and celebrate special occasions, such as New Year’s Eve by singing Auld Lang Syne, as well as feeding meerkats, or having visits from the fire brigade. These opportunities provide new experiences, seek to celebrate commonalities and enrich pupils’ understanding of the wider world.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and governors are incredibly aspirational for pupils. They work with families to support pupils to succeed for as long as they are in the school. As a result, pupils achieve well across the different areas of learning in early years and subjects in the national curriculum.

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

The curriculum is carefully designed, beginning in early years. Teachers work collaboratively to share expertise and identify the important knowledge and skills pupils need to achieve each year. This means that teachers can check precisely that pupils have 1 and 2 July 2025

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learned the most important knowledge and address any misconceptions swiftly. This helps pupils to deepen their understanding and develop great levels of independence in their learning.

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The programme for reading is implemented by expertly trained staff. Beginning in early years, there are shared approaches for teaching highly ambitious vocabulary across the school. These consistent routines, including words and actions, support children to access new language swiftly. This is particularly helpful for pupils newer to the school, including those who speak English as an additional language. Additional support is provided for pupils who need more help to practise their vocabulary and language. Visits to the local area include those to the library so that pupils can build positive habits for reading right from the start.

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The provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) supports them to access and make progress through the curriculum. Pupils’ needs are identified effectively. The school’s ‘provision plans’ outline the termly targets for pupils with SEND in a way that are understandable to them, teachers and parents. Pupils typically learn alongside their peers, receiving more tailored approaches when required.

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The ‘speech and language workshop’ provision supports pupils very well with their early language. Staff are trained to use the strategies in the workshop and across the school consistently. This means that pupils benefit from skilfully adapted teaching and then practise and apply their language in the classroom.

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Behaviour and character development are integrated deeply in the culture of the school. For example, teachers use pupils’ developing early number knowledge, such as the use of ‘10 frames’, to help them understand their ‘smilies’ rewards in concrete ways. Attendance is followed up carefully. The school takes a bespoke approach with families. This is helping rates of attendance to improve over time.

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The integrated nature of the personal development offer is highly effective in supporting pupils to understand important values in the school and beyond. For example, through a programme of carefully selected texts, pupils are introduced to key topics, such as the environment in ‘Thabo’s Tree’. Through several readings of the text, pupils engage in the key themes, such as taking care of the environment and the risks of deforestation. In linked activities across the curriculum, pupils reviewed their approaches to recycling at the school and experimented with making their own paper in science. This supported pupils with the key value of ‘respect’, when they came to look after their trees in the playground as well as the creatures in their classrooms, including butterflies, chicks, or giant snails. As a result, pupils learn about the impact of their actions in considered ways across the school day.

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Staff feel well supported by leaders. They appreciate the opportunities to share resources and expertise across the school. Staff recognise that their workload is well managed, especially at busy times of the year. Governors have a systematic understanding of the work of the school and use this to continue to provide opportunities for all pupils in the school community to succeed in their next steps. 1 and 2 July 2025

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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 May 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, 1 and 2 July 2025

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looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 1 and 2 July 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 8 and 9 May 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Cardinal Road Infant and Nursery School runs its own after-school care.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school has a resourced provision run by the local authority on its premises. There are 10 places allocated by the local authority for pupils with speech, language and communication needs but that do not have an educational, health and care plan. Pupils attend this provision for up to one academic year. The pupils who attend are dual registered with their school and this provision.

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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 their evaluation of the school. 1 and 2 July 2025

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 The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and teachers. The inspector met with a group of governors, including the chair of governors. The inspector also spoke with an adviser from the local authority.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of 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 scrutinised a range of documentation provided by leaders, including their priorities for improvement.  The inspector 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 1 and 2 July 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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