Marlborough Primary School

Age group Published Reference no. Marlborough Primary School Inspection report

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Unique Reference Number 102494 LEA Hounslow

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Inspection number 274839 Inspection dates 17 - 18 May 2005 Reporting inspector Hugh Protherough

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Inspection deemed to have been carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 according to section 12(3) of the same act.

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Type of School Primary School School address School category Community Age range of pupils 3 - 11 London Rd. Isleworth TW7 5XA Gender of pupils Mixed Telephone number 0208 560 3978 Number on roll 681 Fax number 0208 560 2185 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair of governors Dr. G. Dawkins Date of previous inspection 13-17 September Headteacher Mr. J. Ingram

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3 - 11 June 2005 274839 Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005

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Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 1

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Introduction

The inspection was a pilot of the new arrangements for inspection announced by Ofsted in its consultation paper of February 2004. It was carried out with the support and co-operation of Marlborough Primary School and of the local education authority.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by four additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

Marlborough is a popular primary school for pupils aged three to eleven. It has 681 pupils, the majority of whom are of white British or Asian British backgrounds although many other ethnic groups are represented. Many speak English as an additional language and a significant proportion (12%) are at an early stage of learning English. The number of pupils entitled to free school meals is average as is the number with special educational needs. However, the school also makes provision for pupils with specific learning difficulties and thus the proportion of pupils with statements of special educational needs is well above the national average. The number of pupils arriving at, or leaving, the school at times other than the start and end of the school year is almost double the national picture. The school also experiences a relatively high turnover of teachers each year due to the high cost of living in the area.

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Key for inspection grades

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 2

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Overall effectiveness of the school

Staff, pupils, governors, parents and carers rightly recognise this is an effective school that offers good value for money. There has been a successful response to the vast majority of issues raised in the last inspection report and the school is very well placed to improve still further.

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Overall effectiveness of the school

The teachers provide a good quality of education that enthuses the pupils and effectively supports their all round development as citizens of tomorrow. The school is a harmonious, inclusive and considerate community that reflects the teachers’ high expectations for good behaviour and hard work. The pupils make good progress in their lessons and achieve well regardless of background or ability.

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Overall effectiveness of the school

Despite a recent dip in standards in Year 6 the pupils’ results have been in line with those of similar schools. The work of the current Year 6 shows good improvement on the results they achieved in Year 2. The care and support provided for individual pupils are outstanding, especially for those who are vulnerable or who have special educational needs. The Foundation Stage is well led and managed. Children make good progress so that by the age of five the vast majority are on course to reach the expected goals.

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Overall effectiveness of the school

The headteacher and senior management team provide strong and effective leadership for the staff team. Their self-evaluation is rigorous, although important aspects such as the monitoring of teaching and learning are not always sufficiently well focussed to support wider school improvement.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Ensure that the monitoring of teaching and learning supports specific school improvement initiatives and informs the training needs of staff • Develop consistent approaches to the marking and assessment of pupils’ work

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Achievement and standards

The inspection team agrees with the school that pupils of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well and make good progress. The school has successfully improved the standard of pupils’ handwriting and their work in Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 3

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Achievement and standards

design and technology. Inspectors’ conversations with pupils throughout the school show that children enjoy their work and are proud of their achievements.

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Achievement and standards

The attainment of children when they first join the nursery covers a broad range but, overall, it is average. All children, including the significant minority who are at the very early stages of learning English, make good progress and are on course to reach the goals expected of them by the end of reception.

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Achievement and standards

Standards in the 2004 tests for seven year olds were well above average in reading and mathematics and above average in writing. The results compared very favourably with similar schools. In comparison with the national picture standards at age eleven have dipped over the past two years to below average in English and average in mathematics and science. However, the inspectors agree with the school’s own analysis that the large proportion of pupils with special educational needs depressed the test scores. Closer analysis of the data shows that the pupils made satisfactory progress when compared with the results they achieved in Year 2.

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Achievement and standards

Current standards in English and mathematics are close to the national average, and on the basis of the school’s assessment data teaching adds good value to the pupils’ prior achievements.

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Personal development and well-being

Although the school judges the pupils’ personal development and well-being as good, the inspection team found a harmonious and hard working community where the quality of relationships, behaviour and the pupils’ all round development are outstanding.

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Personal development and well-being

Pupils’ excellent moral and social development is extremely well supported by the school. Pupils show consideration for one another. They feel safe and are confident that they can approach friends and teachers for help and support. They are aware of, and act on events within and outside the school. A good example of this was the bring-and-buy sale organised by the school council, which collected over £600 for Brazilian street children. The pupils took full responsibility for the event including the financial management. The pupils thrive in the rich cultural diversity of their school community and the teachers build successfully on this during worship and in art, music and history.

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Personal development and well-being

The pupils’ attitudes to learning are excellent. This is evident from their enjoyment of school and the continuing improvement in attendance that is now Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 4

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Personal development and well-being

securely in line with the national figure. They participate very well in lessons and the many sports-related extra-curricular activities. Pupils are rightly proud of their school and the school council takes its responsibilities seriously. For instance, they have been at the forefront of work reviewing school lunches with a view to ensuring healthier eating choices are available for all.

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Teaching and learning

Teaching is good and caters well for pupils of all backgrounds and abilities. The children respond positively and learn effectively because lessons are interesting and motivating. Teachers have high expectations of all their pupils, setting a brisk pace for work and demanding that written work is presented neatly. Behaviour is very well managed. The school makes outstanding provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. Teaching assistants play a vital and effective role in many lessons and there is very good support too for pupils learning English as an additional language.

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Teaching and learning

Lessons are well prepared, explanations are clear and teachers have a good knowledge of the subjects they teach. They are skilled at involving all pupils through careful questioning, paired discussions and group activities. Good use is made of new technologies such as the interactive whiteboards.

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Teaching and learning

Taken overall the assessment of the pupils is satisfactory. The teachers know their pupils very well and have a good appreciation of individual strengths and weaknesses. However, the inspectors agree with the school’s own evaluation that the marking of pupils’ work currently lacks consistency and does not always relate clearly to the range of individual improvement targets set for different groups of pupils. The recent introduction of pupil self-assessment is an important first step on the road to improvement.

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Teaching and learning

Teaching for pupils in the unit for those with specific learning difficulties is outstanding and the individual programmes of work are closely tailored to each individual.

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Grade: 2

Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 5

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Curriculum and other activities

The school judges its curriculum to be good. However, the inspection team feels that the quality, range and depth of what the school provides for its children are outstanding. Thorough planning and thoughtful provision in the Foundation Stage ensure that the children get off to a flying start. In Years 1 to 6 the school’s curriculum is broad, balanced and meets the pupils’ needs well. Weaknesses identified in the last inspection report have been addressed and there is good evidence that the school now provides a worthwhile range of experiences in design and technology. Teachers are starting to establish exciting cross curricular links between subjects that enhance the children’s understanding and there are sensible plans to develop these still further. The pupils learn how to stay safe and healthy through personal, social and health education and in lessons in science and physical education. There is an exciting

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Curriculum and other activities

variety of out-of-school clubs and activities.

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Care, guidance and support

Care, guidance and support for pupils are outstanding. The school makes every effort to ensure that pupils feel secure and cared for. The effective health and safety procedures are regularly reviewed. Arrangements for child protection are in place and all adults are aware of their responsibilities in this area.

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Care, guidance and support

Pupils have trusting relationships with adults. They express overwhelming confidence in their teachers and enjoy school. Pupils are taught how to take care of themselves and to make healthy and safe choices.

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Care, guidance and support

Vulnerable pupils are given excellent support. The school works effectively with many external agencies from whom it seeks advice when necessary. The inspectors agree with the positive views of the very many parents who wrote to express their appreciation of the way that the school has enabled their children to access an exciting and appropriate education in a community where they feel included and valued.

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Grade: 1

Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 6

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Leadership and management

Inspectors agree with the school that the quality of leadership and management are good. There is a shared sense of purpose that permeates the entire staff team and the school’s strong commitment to the inclusion of all learners is reflected in every aspect of its work. There is a good blend of experienced and more recently qualified teachers and arrangements for the recruitment and induction of new staff are excellent. Staff at all levels contribute effectively to the personal development and well being of the pupils and there is a similar commitment to helping pupils to achieve their utmost. The school’s capacity to improve further is outstanding.

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Leadership and management

The school’s development plan identifies a good variety of important work. The views of governors, parents and pupils are canvassed regularly and inform the plan. Although, the senior managers have a mostly secure oversight of the work of the school, they recognise that their current approaches to evaluating school improvement are not always sufficiently focussed or “joined up.” For instance, although there is ongoing review of pupils’ writing, the school’s programme for monitoring teaching does not yet include the teaching of writing as a specific focus for classroom visits.

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Leadership and management

Although the senior management team has correctly identified the need for the priorities within the school development cycle to be tied more closely to their plans for staff training, overall budget management is good. Funding is used appropriately and the levels of educational resources provided good.

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Grade: 2

Inspection Report; Marlborough Primary School, 17 - 18 May 2005 7

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Grade: 2

procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about HMI-led Ofsted inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Key to judgements: Grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate. School Overall 16-19

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INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners’ well-being? The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of the school’s self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Y Y/N Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection Y Y/N

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INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

ACHIEVEMENT AND STANDARDS How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards reached by learners 3 How well learners’ make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND WELL-BEING How good is the overall personal development and well- being of the learners? The extent of learners’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development The behaviour of learners 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community. How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

THE QUALITY OF PROVISION How effective are teaching and learning in meeting the full range of learners’ needs? How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? How well are learners cared for, guided and supported? 1 How well does the provision promote the well-being of learners?

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Annex A

B LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT How effective are leadership and management in raising achievement and supporting all learners? How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self- review How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected Y Y/N

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Annex A

The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy Yes/No/NA

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Annex A

Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are taught about sexual health risks Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe. Yes/No/NA

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Annex A

Procedures for Child Protection meet the requirements of Working Together to Safeguard Children Yes

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Annex A

Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them Yes How well learners enjoy and achieve Yes/No/NA

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Annex A

Support is given to learners with poor behaviour and attendance Yes Learners’ personal and academic development are monitored Yes The extent to which learners make a positive contribution Yes/No/NA

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Annex A

Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, are consulted when key decisions affecting them have to be made and their views are listened to Yes

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Annex A

Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well- being Yes/No/NA

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Annex A

There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop their enterprise and financial skills, and work in teams Yes

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Annex A

Education and training for all learners in 14-19 is co-ordinated to give experience of work based learning n/a

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Annex B

Marlborough Community Primary School London Rd Isleworth

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Annex B

I should like to thank you on behalf of all the inspectors for the friendly way in which you welcomed us to your school for the recent inspection. We enjoyed talking with you during our visit and your views and opinions have provided us with a lot of helpful information. Despite listening to many different people and hearing so many interesting points of view, this message came through loud and clear; you all like school and feel you are getting on well with your work. We agree with you. The inspectors were particularly pleased to see that since the last inspection your writing has got much neater.

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Annex B

Watching you in lessons and looking at your books its clear to us that you work hard and take a pride in your work. You like and respect your teachers and many of you told us how you trust them to look after you if you have any problems. You are enthusiastic about the wide variety of clubs and after school activities. Many of you are clearly making the most of the very good opportunities provided by your teachers and other organisations.

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Annex B

We think that the school council is doing a good job in checking out the views of pupils around the school. However, we’d like to see some of the younger children in Reception and Years 1 and 2 getting a chance to join in your meetings.

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Annex B

We were interested to see that some of you are starting to mark your own work. We’ve suggested that the teachers continue to encourage you to do this. We also want the teachers to make sure that when they check your work they write comments that tell you how to improve it and achieve your targets.

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Annex B

All the inspectors join me in wishing you a happy and enjoyable summer term and a well earned break in the summer holidays.

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Annex B

Hugh Protherough Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 0207 421 6800 F 0207 421 6707 www.ofsted.gov.uk

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