Henwick Primary School

Henwick Primary School Inspection report

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100131 Unique Reference Number Greenwich Local Authority 276256 Inspection number 27 °28 September 2006 Inspection dates Jo Curd Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 3 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 316 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Amanda Donegan Chair Mrs Ann Robertson Headteacher 20 March 2000 Date of previous school inspection Henwick Road School address Eltham London SE9 6NZ

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020 8856 8627 Telephone number 020 8856 8085 Fax number

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3 °11 Age group 27 °28 September 2006 Inspection dates 276256 Inspection number .

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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 Education Act 2005, 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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Henwick is a larger than average primary school situated on a housing estate in Greenwich, London. Most of the pupils come from this and a neighbouring estate. Many come from disadvantaged backgrounds, several having social and emotional difficulties. The proportion eligible for free school meals is much higher than the national average. A higher than average proportion of pupils has learning difficulties and disabilities, but a lower proportion has statements of special educational needs.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school in which pupils enjoy learning, are happy and well cared for. As one parent said 'I am very confident that my child is receiving a good standard of education in a safe, happy environment'. Good leadership and management have brought about many improvements resulting in good progress and personal development. For example, changes in the curriculum to make lessons more practical and relevant have had significant impact on pupils' motivation and enjoyment of school. Another parent said 'I would like to show my support to the headteacher who I believe is making a real improvement to Henwick School'. Her clear vision and drive to raise standards has also led to improvements in teaching which, although inconsistent, is good overall contributing well to above average standards achieved at the end of Year 6. Provision in the Foundation Stage is good. Pupils enter the Foundation Stage with

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Grade: 2

standards that are below those expected for this age. Pupils' achievement is good. By the end of Year 6, standards in mathematics and science are above national average. However, standards in English are lower, especially in writing. The curriculum is good. It is broad and balanced and now covers all the statutory requirements. A strong focus on enriching pupils first hand experiences, such as practical work, visits and visitors, successfully contributes to pupil's high motivation, progress and enjoyment of learning. Pupils enjoy coming to school and are very keen to learn. When asked, one boy, met very early at the school gates, said 'I just enjoy learning'. These positive attitudes and good progress in basic skills prepare pupils well for later life. Personal development is good. Pupils are very well behaved, polite and friendly. Their opinions are valued and they all contribute to their school community, for example in devising class rules

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Grade: 2

and sanctions at the beginning of each year. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good especially because of well planned and presented daily assemblies, warm relationships with staff and an interesting curriculum in which a diversity of cultures are well presented. Good care, support and guidance contribute to pupils' personal development well. Pupils are generally guided well in their learning, they have targets for progress in English and mathematics, know how well they are doing and how they can achieve more. They feel safe and secure and develop confidence well. Several quieter or more vulnerable pupils have successfully developed their language, personal and social skills within small 'talking partners' groups. Leaders have a detailed knowledge of the school and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses accurately. They have developed many good systems for monitoring practice but do not yet

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Grade: 2

evaluate or use these sufficiently to raise standards consistently through the school. For example, the headteacher has extensive records on the quality of teaching and knows strengths and weaknesses well. Action taken in response to findings has resulted in some success and good teaching overall. However, information has not been analysed or used sufficiently rigorously and inconsistencies remain. There has been good improvement since the last inspection. This improvement, combined with clear direction from leaders and hard work and commitment from staff mean that the school's capacity for further improvement is good.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Evaluate information more precisely in order to raise achievement throughout the school. • Improve the consistency of teaching so that it is all at least good. • Improve performance in English especially writing. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Grade: 2

Achievement is good, although it varies in relation to the quality of teaching. By the end of Year 6, standards are above average in mathematics and science. Pupils exceed their targets as a result of well focused teaching and additional support. In English, they are below average, with standards in writing being considerably lower than those in reading. Overall attainment on entry to the Nursery is below national expectations. They make good progress through the Foundation Stage, often making very good progress during the Nursery year. However, by the end of the Reception year fewer children than average reach the expected goals. Tracking data shows that all groups of pupils, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities, those who learn more quickly, and boys and girls, make equally good progress.

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Grade: 2

Pupils are confident, very well behaved and proud of their school. Inappropriate behaviour is effectively dealt with through the consistent implementation of a clear and effective behaviour policy. They enjoy school and are keen to learn. Attendance has risen and systems to check up on absent pupils are robust. Levels of attendance are however still below the national average. Pupils are effectively encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles through lessons, school meals and sport. They are successfully learning to adopt safe practices through lessons and talks on aspects such as road safety. Pupils make a real contribution to the school through a variety of responsibilities and the effective school council. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. Opportunities to work in teams and to organise and raise money for charities provide important skills for later life and the school is building on this work.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good overall resulting in good progress and personal development. It varies considerably throughout the school. Initiatives in Year 6 to improve mathematics and science, such as an emphasis on practical activities and booster classes have been particularly successful. Initiatives to make English more interesting have resulted in increased pupil enjoyment and motivation but have not had significant impact on progress in writing. Children in the Nursery have a particularly good start because of the exceptionally good quality of teaching here including an excellent curriculum, highly skilled input from staff and settled and purposeful environment. The headteacher and external advisors have monitored the quality of teaching and learning extensively and have an accurate picture of strengths and weaknesses throughout the school. Although there have been improvements, information

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Grade: 2

gathered in monitoring has not been evaluated or used sufficiently rigorously and inconsistencies remain.

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Grade: 2

It is broad and balanced and all statutory requirements are now covered. There is a good emphasis on practical work and activities which relate to and extend pupils' experiences. These 5 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006 have successfully raised pupil's motivation and enjoyment as well as helping to prepare them for later life and learning. The curriculum is enriched well through a range of visitors and visits out including the theatre, environmental centre and places of worship such as the Hindu temple. Teachers with specific skills and expertise, such as in information and communication technology (ICT), are used well to train those in other classes and improve the curriculum for all the pupils. Effective links between subjects are improving and making the curriculum more interesting and relevant for all. The school is continuing to develop these links.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. Very good links with the popular preschool on site, which most pupils attend prior to the Foundation Stage, and local secondary schools successfully help pupils' transition between different stages of their education. All the adults in the school are highly committed and work well as a team. This includes the site manager who ensures the building is clean and safe, school cooks who provide healthy and tasty meals and midday supervisors who successfully encourage pupil's personal and social skills and their knowledge and consumption of a healthy diet. Support for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is good but varies between classes. Academic guidance for pupils varies between classes but is generally good. Warm relationships and very good use of praise successfully encourage pupils in their learning. Most pupils know how well they are learning and how they could do better.

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Grade: 2

Parents are well informed of children's learning and progress. Although there have been significant improvements in the systems used to track and monitor progress from year to year evaluation is not sharp enough to clarify expectations and targets for individual pupils throughout the school.

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Grade: 2

The new headteacher has a strong commitment to improving standards. Her very clear vision about how learning can be improved and her continuous consultation with staff about well planned developments are significant factors in the good progress, well being and personal development of pupils. Along with the deputy headteacher and the leadership team she has introduced a range of measures to improve the quality of the provision which have been particularly successful in mathematics and science. The revised structure for middle management provides good opportunities for staff to work together collaboratively to improve provision. The school improvement plan and the raising attainment plan are all well focused on improving achievement. The school gathers a good range of information about pupils' performance to ensure that their progress is systematically monitored as they move through the school. However,

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Grade: 2

the analysis of assessment data to identify clear annual targets for individual pupils is not yet sufficiently rigorous. Governors are supportive of the school and well informed about its work but do not yet monitor and pose challenging questions sufficiently to hold the school to account for the standards it achieves. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Inspection judgements

School Overall Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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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? 2 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 Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2 The behaviour of learners 3 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 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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and interests of learners?

2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 8 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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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 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, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 9 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for making us feel welcome when we visited your school. It was lovely to see how confident and well behaved you are and to see how much you enjoy your school and all your learning there. We agree with you that you have a good school and recognise how much your staff care and want the best for you. You are all working hard and last years Year 6 did particularly well in science and maths. Most of your lessons help your learning well. We have asked your school to make sure that they are all like this. We are glad how much most of you now enjoy English but some of you develop writing more slowly. We have asked your teachers to think carefully about ways to help you in this. Staff keep a lot of records on how well you are all doing and have used this to help your learning. They now need to carefully consider what the information shows about your individual learning so that you can all do better throughout your time at

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Henwick. We hope you all continue to enjoy learning, behave well and try your best. Thank you again for all your help and friendliness. Jo Curd Lead inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Henwick Primary School, 27 °28 September 2006

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