Kelvin Grove Primary School

Inspection Report Kelvin Grove Primary School

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100690 Unique Reference Number Lewisham Local Authority 285847 Inspection number 7 °8 December 2006 Inspection dates Wendy Simmons 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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Kirkdale School address Primary Type of school London Community School category SE26 6BB 3 °11 Age range of pupils 020 8699 6300 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 020 8291 7280 Fax number 459 Number on roll (school) Ms K Hibbert Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mr A Mathieson Headteacher 22 April 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 285847 7 °8 December 2006 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Kelvin Grove is a very large and ethnically diverse school. A high proportion of pupils speak English in addition to their home language. Most pupils are from mixed heritages or Black African, Black Caribbean and Asian backgrounds. One fifth of pupils come from White British backgrounds. Deprivation is much greater than found in most schools. Mobility is very high because significant numbers of pupils join and leave the school at intermittent times throughout the school year. An increasing number of pupils have recently arrived in Britain. The school has an average proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. Pupils' skills when starting the school are well below average. In the last two years, the school has had significant staffing difficulties. The headteacher joined the school just over a year ago. The school has recently gained the Healthy School's Award.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006

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Grade: 2

Kelvin Grove is a good and improving school. Underpinning this successful school is good leadership and management. The highly effective headteacher is well supported by senior staff. Following a period of staffing difficulties when standards fell, leaders have ensured that the school has made a successful recovery. The drive to improve standards reflects strong teamwork and support for new staff. Having put many new systems in place, the school is now working to expand the roles of middle managers, several of whom are quite new to the school and are not fully involved in evaluating standards and pupils' progress. The school has good capacity to improve. Standards are average and improving. Overall, good teaching and learning lead to pupils' good achievement. Pupils acquire basic calculation skills well but do not do enough real life problem solving in mathematics. Notable strengths include the above

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Grade: 2

average standards in English. These result from pupils making outstanding progress in speaking, reading and writing. Language and communication work starts well in the Foundation Stage with exemplary work in the Nursery. Pupils' skills in English build systematically year on year and reflect teachers' high expectations and frequent outstanding lessons. Pupils' good personal development and well being are central to the ethos of the school and help to ensure that pupils are well prepared for their futures. Pupils enjoy learning, relationships are positive and pupils' behaviour is outstanding. Parents have confidence in the school and value recent improvements because in the words on one parent they, 'Empower pupils and are encouraging parents to become more actively involved'. The school is a family community. The school provides a good curriculum and pupils are well cared for, guided and supported. Pupils say, 'Everybody cares for everybody'. Recent improvements in the

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Grade: 2

tracking of pupils' progress and target setting are significant reasons why the school has been able to curb the decline in standards that occurred in 2005. Pupils are quickly identified if they underachieve and are given specific support in very small groups to help them do better.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Give pupils more opportunities to do real life problem solving in mathematics. • Expand the roles of middle managers, to include greater involvement in evaluating standards and pupils' progress.

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Grade: 2

Standards are average overall by the end of Year 6 but the school does especially well in English, where standards are above average. The school is successfully working to lift standards in mathematics by the end of Year 6. Last year standards were below average in mathematics and they are now heading towards average for the pupils 2 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006 currently in Year 6. This is because pupils are taught in ability groups and are doing more challenging activities following a review of the subject. Standards are also rising by the end of Year 2, reflecting strong leadership, strategic placement of skilled new staff and better tracking and assessment procedures. Pupils make good progress from a low starting point and their achievement is good. Children make quick progress in the Foundation Stage, especially in their personal skills and in their ability to communicate with others. This a result of high expectations

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Grade: 2

and skilled teaching. Throughout the school, achievement is satisfactory in mathematics and science but, pupils make outstanding progress in English due to high expectations and very high quality teaching and learning in this subject.

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Grade: 2

Pupils enjoy school, grow in confidence and quickly learn to work together. Children get off to a strong start in the Foundation Stage. Pupils' have positive attitudes and their attendance is satisfactory. Pupils' behaviour is outstanding and very well managed by staff. Pupils are keen to take responsibility and actively suggest ideas of how to improve the school. They adopt healthy lifestyles, develop a good understanding of how to be safe and learn how to cope better with their emotions. Pupils make a positive contribution to the community through such things as making and selling items at the Christmas Fayre and by raising funds for 'Water Aid.' These activities help them to develop important early enterprise skills. Teamwork, co-operation and fitness are well promoted through sport. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. As a result, they celebrate the rich multi-cultural elements within the school

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Grade: 2

and develop respect and tolerance for each other. Pupils are well prepared for their future lives.

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Grade: 2

Good teaching and learning lead to pupils making good progress in most subjects. Lessons are well planned to meet pupils' differing needs. Good relationships between teaching staff and pupils and interesting activities help pupils to enjoy learning, work hard and behave outstandingly well. One pupil explained, 'Teachers ask for our opinions.' Pupils agree that their teachers value their comments. Effective use of questioning, computer technology and visual aids help pupils to learn in different ways. Teaching assistants give good support, so that all pupils can be equally included in activities. There are examples of outstanding teaching and learning in English throughout the school. Exemplary use of discussions, guidance on how to improve and clear targets result in pupils acquiring skills quickly. This was evident when pupils used individual 'wish lists,' which the teacher had written to help pupils to re-draft

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Grade: 2

and extend their Snow White stories. Teaching problem solving skills in mathematics 3 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006 has been a relative weakness. There has been over reliance on undemanding work sheets, which has hampered independent work. Pupils commented that mathematics investigation activities are more frequent than they were and they like this but this remains an area for development. Marking in mathematics is not rigorous enough.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum supports pupils' academic and personal development well. It is good in the Foundation Stage, where elements link together well to make learning fun and meaningful. Throughout the school, a strong focus is placed on literacy, music and sport. Pupils enjoy participating in a wide range of activities and clubs such as Super Sonic Music. The school provides a good range of dramatic and creative activities, which promote pupils' enjoyment of learning. The curriculum is successfully adapted to meet the needs of most pupils, including those with learning difficulties and for pupils who are new to learning English. Subject managers are beginning to develop links between subjects. The school has correctly identified that this remains an area for development, for example, by using extended writing and information and communication technology (ICT) in a range of subjects.

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Grade: 2

Pupils are well cared for, guided and supported. The school works well with outside agencies, parents and carers to enhance this. Child protection procedures are rigorous. Pupils commented that there is always someone to talk to if they have any concerns and parents agree. One parent noted staff to be, 'Very understanding and they tackle problems straight away'. There are effective systems to support pupils with differing learning needs and those who are new to the school. Strong links with the community aid this. As a result, pupils settle quickly and make good progress. The buddy system provides pupils with effective opportunities to take responsibility and look after each other. The school has plans to improve the environment, particularly the outside play space. However, there is no provision for the disabled to move easily between floors. The recent developments in assessment help senior staff to track pupils' progress in

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Grade: 2

literacy and mathematics and to identify where additional support is needed to raise achievement. Very clear target setting in English along with detailed marking helps pupils to understand exactly how to improve their work. The headteacher's high quality support and guidance for staff is helping to lift the quality of teaching and learning.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher and senior managers are having a positive impact on improving standards and in providing pupils with a good all-round education. Increasing links with the community and parents are supporting school improvement well. The school's 4 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006 self-evaluation is satisfactory, as it is mostly accurate and correctly identifies areas for development. The headteacher has very good vision and has put many new and highly effective systems in place to aid school improvement. Now that systems are clearly established the senior management team are delegating more responsibilities to middle managers so that they too can better monitor and evaluate standards in their subjects. This is however, inconsistent and remains an area for further development. Governors' influence has improved considerably since the previous inspection. They provide good support, are well informed about the school and are

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Grade: 2

beginning to ask more challenging questions about standards and pupils' achievement. 5 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006 .

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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: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 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 3 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? 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 1 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. 7 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 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? 8 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

You may remember that three inspectors came to your school recently to find out how you are doing. Thank you for being so friendly and telling us about your school. We are writing to let you know what we found out. You go to a good school. Clearly you enjoy learning and your behaviour is outstanding. Congratulations on this and please keep it up. Because of good teaching and learning most of you make good progress and reach the standards expected by the age of 11. You make outstanding progress in English because your teachers help you to learn new things quickly and successfully. Your teachers often give you useful ideas about how to improve your work and you know your targets. Overall, your personal and social skills are good and the adults in the school make sure that you are well cared for. You like your teachers and they work hard for you by making lessons interesting. All of these things, when added together, help you to

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

be well prepared for your future lives. Most importantly, the school is well led. Your headteacher and all of the staff and governors are working especially hard to make the school even better. To do this we have asked them to work on the following things. • Make sure that you do more investigations in mathematics, as we know that you enjoy these. • Help some of the new teachers to become more involved in checking how well the school is doing. Thank you for the enjoyable concert and I hope that your production of Babushka is successful. Have a good rest in the holidays, you all deserve it. Remember to say thank you to your teachers because they are working very hard for you all, especially in writing you notes, so that you know how to improve your writing. Keep up the good work! Yours sincerely, Wendy Simmons Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Kelvin Grove Primary School, 7 °8 December 2006

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