Starks Field Primary School

Inspection Report Starks Field Primary School

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134307 Unique Reference Number Enfield Local Authority 282545 Inspection number 31 January °1 February 2007 Inspection dates Carmen Rodney HMI 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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167 Church Street School address Primary Type of school Edmonton Community School category Enfield N9 9SJ 3 °11 Age range of pupils 020 8887 6060 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 020 8887 6069 Fax number 203 Number on roll (school) Councillor Del Goddard Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Ms Davindar Bhalla Headteacher Not previously inspected Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 282545 31 January °1 February 2007 3°11 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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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 one of Her Majesty's Inspectors and an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Starks Field opened in September 2004 as a new, state of the art school with a wide range of learning facilities. Currently, there are two classes in Reception, two in Year 1 and one in Year 2. There is also part-time nursery provision for 60 children. A different year group will join the school each year until it reaches full capacity within the next four academic years. The children come from a diverse range of cultural heritages. The two largest ethnic groups are White British and Black British/Caribbean. Most children come from the surrounding wards, some of which are more economically deprived than other areas. The proportion of children who do not speak English as a first language is well above the national average. Pupil mobility varies each academic year because of social and economic factors.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007

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Grade: 2

This is a good school. Although it is new and does not have a long record of accomplishment, parents recognise that it is a 'thriving school where children are eager to attend every morning, and wished there were no weekends'. The vast majority of parents feel that Starks Field is the place to be because their children are safe, well cared for, enjoy their learning and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Parents like the stimulating learning environment, which they say helps their children to make good progress. There was no evidence to back a very small minority of parents who feel that enough is not being done to support their children. Children are very excited about school. They enjoy using the wide range of sensory and physical resources to keep fit and healthy, the fun activities and opportunities to talk about their work and show how much they understand. This is leading to children

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Grade: 2

showing increased confidence as demonstrated in their progress records from Nursery to Year 2. Although children have good attitudes and behave very well, their attendance is lower than in most schools despite the good systems in place to improve it. Assessment records in Years 1 and 2 show that children succeed in making good progress towards achieving challenging targets from a low base. Provision in the Foundation Stage is good and gives children a strong base on which to make good progress as they move through the school. The school's learning values cover creativity, independence, interdependence, spirituality,and individuality, and are effectively reflected in the Early Years and Key Stage 1 curriculum. The provision promotes independent learning very well and is carefully matched to the needs of groups and individuals. As a result, most children work within or reach the early learning goals expected for three year olds, with a small minority exceeding them. Achievement

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Grade: 2

overall is good. Teaching is good with some outstanding features throughout the school. Good teaching has been maintained against a backdrop of establishing systems for the new school. The good quality teaching, combined with children's enthusiasm to do well, ensures that they make good progress with some making very good progress. Support staff work alongside children but are sometimes insufficiently alert to picking up useful pointers to assist children. The curriculum is good and the care, support and guidance provided for children are of good quality with some notable strengths. These include the use of target-setting and intensive support for individual children, which contribute to their good progress. Continuous assessment and monitoring enables the school to provide specific support for more able children, those new to the country and culture and those at the early stage of learning English as well as for children with complex learning needs. Data is

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Grade: 2

well managed but monitoring by ethnicity and ability groups is not yet in place. The school is effectively led and managed. Still only in its third year, there is no complacency. There is passion for finding and doing the best for the children which means that work is constantly under review, as procedures are carefully evaluated before adapting them for the benefits of the school. This rigorous level of care ensures 2 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007 that initiatives are fully embraced by all staff. Staff, including the site manager, work effectively as a team and are committed to doing the best for the children. Governors are very well informed. They carry out their statutory duties well, while rigorously holding the school to account. The school's evaluation of its effectiveness is accurate and its capacity to accelerate further development is outstandingly good.

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What the school should do to improve further

At this stage of its development, the school needs to: • improve attendance to ensure children make as much progress as they can • create a data system for identifying the progress of groups of children • ensure that support staff fully understand the different ways in which they can actively help children learn well.

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Grade: 2

Children make good progress in the Nursery and Reception classes. The majority enter the Nursery with well below average skills expected for three year olds. By the end of the Foundation Stage, children have made good progress with most doing particularly well in their personal, social, physical and creative development. Children of all abilities in Years 1 and 2 continue to make good progress towards achieving the challenging targets set for them. Progress is consistently good in relation to their starting points because teachers skilfully use their expertise of how children learn to provide intensive group and individual support. Assessment data shows that the school is effective in identifying and supporting high attaining children and those who are not making enough progress. Children at the early stage of learning English and those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make good progress overall.

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Grade: 2

Children's personal development and well-being are good. They enjoy school, value the friendships they make and feel trusted and respected. Children appreciate lessons, and speak enthusiastically of the way 'teachers have all sorts of little tricks that help you learn'. Children feel safe and have a good understanding of keeping fit and healthy. Children enter well into the wider life of the school and undertake a range of responsibilities by contributing to their local community through raising money for charities. Their growing mastery of communication skills prepares them well for their future economic well-being. Children's social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is good. They mix easily, relate well to adults, and have a good understanding that how they choose to behave affects others. They recognise outstanding acts of kindness shown by particular children. They have a good understanding of beliefs and cultures by studying different

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Grade: 2

faiths and ways of living. Children show good powers of reflection, especially in 3 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007 assemblies, when they demonstrate that they can think deeply about what it takes to achieve their best. They behave well and this helps them make the most of schooling. Attendance is below average because of holidays taken during term time, but improving because of effective measures.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good with pockets of excellence in Key Stage 1. Children learn effectively and enjoy school because the learning environment provides stimulating learning experiences and resources that reflect the multi-racial make up of the school. There is never a dull moment! Teachers are effective at developing children's confidence to believe that they can do the work. As a result, children are not afraid to tackle difficult tasks without constant adult supervision. In all classes, particularly in Years 1 and 2, children are encouraged to become independent learners. This was seen when the more able children in Year 1 performed and narrated their role-play based on 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Throughout the school, teachers successfully use mental, practical and physical activities to engage children's interests. Children say they enjoy the fun teaching approach as demonstrated when they exercised

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Grade: 2

and chanted the times-tables to music. Such activities result in good achievement. Teachers make learning intentions clear, match work closely to the different abilities, and use very good questioning techniques to increase children's thinking. Teachers' efficient use of time enables children to talk confidently about their learning at the end of lessons. Relationships are very good and teachers' effective management and organisation mean that lessons run smoothly. Specialist support encourages children to keep up with the work but teaching assistants are not always deployed in the most effective way.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good throughout the school because it meets the needs of individual children, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities and the most able. A wide range of learning experiences, including role play and the use of information and communication technology (ICT), also benefits children learning English as an additional language. The school has ensured that the curriculum has a strong emphasis on the development of literacy and numeracy to address the weak communication skills of many children when they start school. The curriculum provides good opportunities for them to learn about healthy living and safe practices through an effective programme of personal, social and health education. It also promotes good opportunities for children to delight in learning, both in lessons and through the use of visitors who provide additional expertise in football and other aspects of physical

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Grade: 2

4 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007 education. The school also fosters an interest in other activities such as storytelling. The Key Stage 2 curriculum is currently being developed.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. Child protection procedures are robust. Arrangements for safeguarding children meet legal requirements. Children's special educational needs are carefully identified and addressed well. The needs of children learning English as an additional language are understood and they are well provided for. There is strong emphasis on safe and healthy practices. Children are given many opportunities to enjoy schooling and to demonstrate their many achievements. Progress in learning from the Foundation Stage onwards is identified by careful observations underpinning the identification of 'next steps', an effective system that identifies the further learning that children need to undertake. A good feature is that these are shared with parents and appear in annual reports. Good use is made of targets to give a sense of direction to children's work, especially in literacy and numeracy.

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Grade: 2

Well presented curriculum information leaflets keep parents in touch with what children are learning and provide useful suggestions as to how parents can help. However, at this stage of the school's development, a clear system for analysing groups of children's performance is not yet in place.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher's very good leadership has built a strong foundation for the future development of the school. She is passionate about teaching and learning and is committed to establishing an excellent school where children can achieve their best. The challenges of setting up a new school have been carefully balanced against the demands of working with a constantly mobile school population while putting systems and structures in place to meet the specific needs of children, inspiring staff and eliciting the support of parents. The school has made a cracking start to establishing itself in the community. Teamwork is a strength of the school and is evident in the way staff plan together monitor and support each other's work. There is analytical monitoring of teaching and learning so that staff and children know the next steps for improvement. Equality of opportunities for all children underpins the aims and values of the school. For example, effective provision ensures that children

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Grade: 2

with learning difficulties make rapid progress, resulting in some being removed from the special needs register. Planning for the annual intake over the next four years is built into the school improvement plan, which is carefully evaluated each year. The accommodation is excellent and is very well maintained. 5 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007

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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 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA 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? 3 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 4 The attendance of learners 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 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. 7 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007

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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? 8 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Thank you for giving us a warm welcome to your school. We really enjoyed joining in your lessons and talking with you about your school. You have an exciting, brand new school with lots of amazing equipment, toys and displays. The playground is excellent with a lovely wildlife garden and pond for you to learn many things about science. You also have some wonderful playground equipment to help you keep fit. You are very happy and enjoy going to school where you are safe. You and your parents told us that you cannot wait to go to school every day because your teachers do so many fun things with you to help you learn. We agree with you and your parents. Your teachers have some great ideas about how to make you learn. They make you think a lot and this is fantastic! You work well on your own or with others in small groups. You told us that you like doing different things in school and you are proud of your new school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Your school makes sure that you keep fit, understand why it is important to drink lots of water, and eat yummy food like fruit and vegetables. Your teachers care a lot about you and you look after each other and behave well. In assembly, you told your teachers that if you want to learn really well, you must 'keep your eye on the ball' to reach your goal. We agree with you. Your headteacher, teachers, governors and site manager, who look after you, want Starks Field to be the best school. They are choosing everything carefully for the new school to make it get better and better. Your school will be doing three more things to help you do your best. Your school wants: • you to learn well, and all of you can help by coming to school every day, • to begin keeping a careful record of how different groups of you are learning, • to make sure that all of your teachers do not miss any opportunities to help you learn.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

We hope that you will always enjoy your time at Starks Field, as it is an exciting place to be. Best wishes. Carmen Rodney HMILead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Starks Field Primary School, 31 January °1 February 2007

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