Drapers' Maylands Primary School

Drapers' Maylands Primary School

Address: Settle Road, Romford, Essex, RM3 9XR Unique reference number (URN): 141549

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Personal development and wellbeing Exceptional

The school's personal development provision is integral to all aspects of school life. Leaders have mapped out and sequenced enrichment and core learning from Reception Year to Year 6 with a specific focus on ensuring that what pupils learn increases in complexity over time. This strategic approach reflects leaders’ relentless focus on preparing pupils incredibly well for the next stage of education and life beyond Maylands.

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Personal development and wellbeing Exceptional

The personal development programme is forensically evaluated to ensure it is relevant for the pupils and is having the intended impact. All pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, benefit from this provision. The school's personal, social, health and economic education has been interwoven with teaching pupils about the rights of a child. This is designed to empower pupils and develop their confidence, resilience and global awareness. Pupils are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain. Events such as the 'European Day of Languages' encourage pupils to celebrate people's differences. Pupils demonstrate an understanding of healthy relationships and the fundamental British values. For example, pupils learn about democracy through voting for their peers to take on leadership roles across the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Exceptional

Pupils' social and emotional health is a strong feature of the school's work. Skilled and well- trained staff provide universal and targeted support for pupils to overcome any barriers. Pupils are taught to resolve conflict with others, and they do this with increasing independence as they get older. Pupils are very knowledgeable about online safety. They understand how to keep mentally and physically healthy.

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Personal development and wellbeing Exceptional

The vast range of enrichment supports and builds on pupils' academic learning. Curriculum- linked trips, clubs, visitors to the school and themed 'WOW days' provide hands-on experiences for pupils to put their knowledge into practice. Pupils' talents and interests are developed through initiatives such as country dancing and music festivals. Staff are astute at spotting individual talents and provide opportunities for pupils to develop these, for example through art or songwriting competitions or working towards formal accreditation in singing or performing arts examinations.

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Personal development and wellbeing Exceptional

Leaders’ actions in the realm of personal development and wellbeing have had a transformational impact on pupils’ lives. Leaders are rightfully sharing this work to benefit other schools.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders demonstrate highly effective practice in promoting and sustaining excellent attendance. Attendance is a clear priority, supported by rigorous systems for monitoring and forensic tracking of patterns and trends. Swift and targeted interventions ensure that any concerns are addressed promptly. Over the past 3 years, overall attendance has remained consistently above the national averages, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Persistent absence is significantly below the national averages.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders work proactively and effectively with families and external agencies to remove barriers to attendance. Strategies, such as the provision of a school minibus to bring pupils to school, exemplify the school’s strong commitment to ensuring pupils attend regularly.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Pupils’ excellent behaviour and attitudes to learning reflect the school’s highly effective systems and strong culture of respect. Lessons are calm and purposeful, enabling pupils to engage fully and achieve well. Pupils respond positively to teacher guidance and relationships between staff, and pupils are consistently respectful. This creates a positive climate for learning. Bullying is not tolerated, and the school’s ethos strongly promotes kindness and inclusion.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Well-established routines and consistently high expectations across all classes ensure smooth transitions between year groups. This whole-school approach reinforces and secures excellent behaviour throughout the school. The school's highly positive environment enables pupils to thrive academically and socially.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The school’s curriculum is broad and designed to give pupils the knowledge they need for their next steps. The curriculum is coherently sequenced and shaped by clear aspirations for pupils to become confident, articulate and knowledgeable young people ready for secondary school.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders are highly reflective and have a secure understanding of the quality of the curriculum and teaching they have in place. Outdoor learning is a key feature of the school and integral to the curriculum. It is designed to give pupils meaningful and hands-on experiences that ensure they remember key knowledge that they are taught.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

The curriculum is implemented very well. Teachers have secure subject knowledge. Teaching is highly consistent, clear, purposeful and engaging. Staff use well-established routines and effective questioning to engage pupils’ interests and deepen understanding. In lessons, there is a clear priority to include all pupils. Activities and support are designed to enable pupils to keep up rather than have to catch up. Teachers make highly skilled adjustments, such as for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that pupils can access the full curriculum and mix with their peers.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Pupils develop key knowledge of the curriculum swiftly and very securely through the well- considered and consistently implemented approaches to reading, writing and mathematics. Phonics is taught consistently well. The whole-school focus on vocabulary effectively supports the high numbers of pupils who speak English as an additional language, and it supports all pupils to develop their communication and language.

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Early years Strong standard

The early years environment is highly engaging and well designed. It offers children stimulating activities. Positive relationships and purposeful interactions are central to practice. Routines and expectations are firmly embedded, enabling children to feel secure and confident. Early years staff work in close collaboration with parents and carers. This helps children to settle quickly into the setting.

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Early years Strong standard

Leaders have a precise understanding of children's needs and have established highly effective systems to identify and address gaps as soon as children start at school. The curriculum is carefully designed to ensure children develop their skills and knowledge throughout their time in the Reception Year while using their interests to shape their learning. There is strong collaboration between the early years and Year 1 staff to secure smooth transitions for all children. Teachers have detailed knowledge of individual gaps and readiness for the next stage so that they can best support every child.

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Early years Strong standard

Communication and language development underpin all aspects of the provision. Children benefit from high-quality interactions with staff who consistently model language and encourage dialogue. A whole-school focus on vocabulary begins in the early years. Staff provide rich opportunities to extend language, including subject-specific vocabulary, such as mathematical terms. Early reading is taught consistently well, and children develop secure phonics knowledge rapidly.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff have created a highly inclusive culture, which is underpinned by knowing individual pupils incredibly well. The school's robust systems, such as the 'yellow form', ensure that any barriers to pupils' learning or wellbeing, including special educational needs and/or disabilities, are quickly identified.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff use information from a range of sources, such as pupils' attendance, safeguarding, developmental factors and advice from external agencies, to decide on the most effective support for pupils. Great consideration is given to how and when support is provided so that pupils do not miss out on being in class with their peers. The pupil premium funding is used very effectively to remove barriers to learning for disadvantaged pupils.

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Inclusion Strong standard

High-quality staff training ensures that the school's inclusive practice is embedded and highly effective across the school. Staff have a clear understanding of the role they play in addressing and overcoming pupils' barriers. Pupils' wellbeing and social and emotional needs are very well supported through the nurturing environment and through targeted specific provision where needed.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders make well-informed and collaborative decisions about the school's provision. This effectiveness of support is meticulously reviewed to make sure it is working. The highly personalised and tailored approach means that all pupils, but particularly disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils, are very well supported and able to thrive academically.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders are highly committed to serving the school community. Acting in the best interests of pupils is at the heart of everything leaders and staff do. Leaders have a clear vision to improve pupils' lives, ensure pupils leave well prepared for the next stage of education and

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Expected standard

develop confident future citizens. This ambition is shared by staff and those responsible for governance.

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Expected standard

Leaders and staff are reflective and proactive in driving improvement. School priorities are accurately identified, and those responsible for governance maintain close oversight to hold leaders to account. The trust and governing body work collaboratively to provide effective governance and ensure their statutory duties are met. As a result, they have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Communication between leaders, governors and the trust is clear and effective, which enables robust assurance of the school’s effectiveness.

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Expected standard

Staff understand their role in achieving whole-school priorities. Professional development is purposeful, tailored and based on leaders knowing staff well. Strong induction, effective coaching and collaborative practice support ongoing development without adding unnecessary workload. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school. They value the support they receive and the culture of teamwork to ensure changes are consistently and effectively implemented.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils typically achieve well, and they develop a secure grasp of the curriculum. Pupils develop a secure foundation in the basic skills for reading, writing and mathematics. This supports and sets pupils up well for their future learning and next steps. Pupils confidently talk about and recall knowledge across different subjects.

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Achievement Expected standard

Pupils' attainment in national tests shows that pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, achieve close to the national averages over time, with particular strengths evident in phonics and writing. The school’s provisional 2025 outcomes are stronger than previous years. This demonstrates the positive impact of the school’s curriculum and leaders’ actions to address previous weaknesses. The gap between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils is narrowing over time. This is as a result of the school’s deliberate approach to meeting each individual’s needs and overcoming their specific barriers.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils at Maylands have a strong sense of belonging. They are rightly proud of their school. New arrivals settle quickly because their peers are welcoming and friendly. Pupils feel safe. Staff are caring and responsive to pupils' individual needs and know pupils well. Bullying is rare. Pupils know they can share any worries they have and will be listened to.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils achieve well across the curriculum. Starting in the early years, staff use a very personalised approach to identify any gaps or barriers in children's learning. This enables children and pupils to progress well from their various starting points. Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes to their learning are highly positive. This is reflected in pupils' high attendance and enjoyment of all that the school has to offer. Pupils enjoy the wide range of activities available, both inside and outside the classroom. At social times, they relish the opportunity to interact with the school dog, rabbits and guinea pig, which develops pupils' sense of responsibility and caring for others.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils benefit from a broad range of enrichment opportunities that build confidence, responsibility and social skills. The calendar of events provides pupils with exciting experiences such as 'kindness challenge week' and 'music week'. Leaders ensure that disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities participate fully in school life. Pupils enjoy the residential trips in Years 5 and 6 as well as the opportunities to be 'ambassadors' and act as role models to others. Pupils' high aspirations for their futures are developed through the school's 'careers convention', which explores a wide range of jobs. The opportunities for pupils to take part and excel in performing arts are plentiful. School-wide singing, theatre shows and musical opportunities are a highlight for pupils and staff.

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Next steps

• Leaders should continue to strengthen their work in reducing barriers to learning so that pupils' achievement is better reflected in the school's published outcomes.

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About this inspection

This school is part of Drapers' multi-academy trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer, Darren Luckhurst, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Oliver Everett.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the principal and other members of the school leadership team, including the designated safeguarding leader and special educational needs coordinator, during the inspection. Inspectors also spoke to teachers, support staff, pupils and representatives from the trust, governing body and local authority.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school: The school uses no alternative provision. The school manages a breakfast and after-school club.

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Team inspectors:

Adam Vincent, His Majesty's Inspector Aliki Constantopoulou, His Majesty's Inspector Sara Boyce, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standards in a combined reading, writing and mathematics measure.

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average

2023/24 (final) 66% 61% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2023/24 (final) 68% 74% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing.

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average

2023/24 (final) 77% 72% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 77% 71% Close to average

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Pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

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national average

2023/24 (final) 50% 46% Close to average

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national average

2022/23 (final) 41% 44% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading.

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average

2024/25 (revised) 62% 63% Close to average

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average

2023/24 (final) 57% 62% Close to average

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average

2022/23 (final) 52% 60% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing.

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average

2023/24 (final) 57% 58% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics.

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average

2022/23 (final) 48% 59% Close to average

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, including the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in reading

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in reading and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in teacher-assessed writing

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in teacher- assessed writing and the disadvantaged gap.

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Disadvantaged pupils reaching the expected standard in mathematics

The percentage of disadvantaged pupils meeting the expected standard in mathematics and the disadvantaged gap.

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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