Kensington Avenue Primary School

Kensington Avenue Primary School Inspection report

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134475 Unique Reference Number Croydon Local Authority 295466 Inspection number 25 °26 April 2007 Inspection dates Ian Wilson 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 444 School

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The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Kevin Smith Chair Mrs Sue Eastwood Headteacher Not previously inspected Date of previous school inspection Kensington Avenue School address Thornton Heath CR7 8BT

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020 8764 2923 Telephone number 020 8679 4880 Fax number

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3 °11 Age group 25 °26 April 2007 Inspection dates 295466 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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Kensington Avenue Primary School is an above average sized school which serves an area of social deprivation. It is a new school, formed from the amalgamation of separate infant and junior schools in September 2005. The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is well above average, with the largest groups being pupils of Black African and Caribbean origin, and a well above average percentage of pupils speak English as an additional language. The mobility of pupils and the proportions entitled to free school meals and with learning difficulties are above average. A Children's Centre is currently being established at the school.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007

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Grade: 3

Kensington Avenue is a satisfactory school. The headteacher has successfully led the amalgamation so that all staff work to a common purpose and the day to day operation of the new school runs smoothly. While the school's processes for self-evaluation are otherwise satisfactory, the leaders do not check closely enough on the impact of the strategies they introduce. As a result, there is some inconsistency in their implementation across the school and their full benefit is not felt. A large majority of parents are supportive of the school but a few have concerns about some aspects of its work. Pupils are happy in the school and speak very positively about the multicultural nature of the school community, the lack of any racism and the way the school has improved since the amalgamation. Pupils' achievement is satisfactory overall because teaching and the curriculum are satisfactory, but there is some variation. The Foundation Stage curriculum is well planned with good links

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Grade: 3

between different areas of learning, and lessons have good pace and challenge, enabling children to make good progress. In other years, curriculum links, for example with information and communication technology (ICT), are not planned well enough, making the curriculum less relevant for some pupils. In addition, lessons lack sufficient challenge for the higher attaining pupils and teachers do not always ensure that all pupils are paying attention. As a result pupils make satisfactory progress and reach average standards by the end of Year 6. Higher attaining pupils, some boys and some pupils of Black African and Caribbean heritage could do better, particularly in writing, where standards are lower, due to the well below average language skills that many children have when they start school. Pupils with learning difficulties, and those who speak English as an additional language, are given the extra support they need and make

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Grade: 3

satisfactory progress. Pupils generally have good attitudes to their work, but their attendance is exceptionally low. Although action taken by the school is leading to improved attendance, unexplained absences are not always followed up quickly enough. Most pupils behave well and develop good personal skills, such as working well in teams, speaking confidently and taking responsibility for different tasks around the school. They know about the importance of staying safe and healthy and are satisfactorily prepared to move on to secondary school. A small proportion of the schools whose overall effectiveness is judged satisfactory but which have areas of underperformance will receive a monitoring visit by an Ofsted inspector before their next section 5 inspection.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Raise standards of writing, particularly amongst boys and pupils of Black African and Caribbean heritage. • Ensure that teachers provide a consistent level of challenge for higher attaining pupils and ensure that all pupils are paying attention. • Improve the rate of pupils' attendance by following up absences quickly. • Keep a closer check on the impact of strategies to improve teaching and the curriculum to ensure that they are applied consistently from class-to-class. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007

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Grade: 3

The achievement of pupils is satisfactory overall and good in the Foundation Stage. Good teaching and a curriculum which meets their needs well enable them to make good progress so that by the end of the Reception year they reach the expected levels in all areas except in speaking, listening, reading and writing. During Years 1 and 2 pupils' progress is satisfactory and by the end of Year 2 they attain average standards in mathematics but below average in reading and writing. They continue to make overall satisfactory progress during Years 3 to 6. This is reflected in the overall average standards in English and mathematics that pupils attained in the 2006 statutory assessments for Year 6. Relatively few pupils, however, attained at the higher levels in writing. Pupils currently in Year 6 are on track to meet their targets and reach average standards. However, some boys and pupils of Black African and Caribbean origin do

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Grade: 3

not do as well as they could, particularly in writing, primarily because they are not motivated sufficiently by the curriculum offered to them. In addition, some higher attaining pupils underachieve because they are not challenged sufficiently by the work given to them. Pupils learning English as an additional language make satisfactory progress overall, but those at an early stage of learning the language receive higher levels of support and, as a result, make good progress. Pupils with learning difficulties make satisfactory progress.

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Grade: 3

Pupils' personal development and well-being are satisfactory. Parents and the pupils confirmed that they enjoy school. 'I like coming to school because it is fun' was a typical comment from a pupil. However, their attendance though improving remains exceptionally low. Pupils are knowledgeable about healthy eating and understand the importance of exercise, for example, many pupils walk to school. The school has received a Healthy Schools' Award. Pupils' spiritual, moral and social and cultural development, are good. Pupils have a clear understanding about right and wrong and show respect for each other whatever their cultural or religious background. 'We are a multicultural school and there is no racism here', commented one pupil. Most pupils work and play together amicably and behave well. However, a very small minority of pupils present challenging behaviour. Pupils have good opportunities to develop

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Grade: 3

responsibility, including, being monitors or being members of the school council and working in the wider community through fund raising, including collecting funds for a school in Uganda. They develop satisfactory skills in literacy and numeracy and ICT. This, together with their self confidence and good interpersonal skills prepares them satisfactorily for secondary school and beyond.

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory. Teachers have good relationships with their pupils and are good role models. They manage their classes well, although in some lessons, they do not always ensure that all pupils are paying attention and pupils sometimes spend too long sitting and listening. Support staff are deployed well and contribute substantially to helping individuals 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007 and groups make progress. Teachers make good use of electronic whiteboards to enhance learning. In the Foundation Stage, and in some lessons elsewhere in the school, lessons are imaginative and well matched to children's needs, enabling good progress. In other years, lessons are at times rather routine and lack relevance to some groups of pupils. Some lessons also have slow a pace and insufficient challenge for some of the pupils in the class. This directly affects their

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Grade: 3

achievement. Assessment procedures are satisfactory. Pupils' work is regularly marked. Some marking gives pupils guidance on how to improve and indicates how well they got on with tasks but this is not a consistent approach. Pupils have targets and though some pupils know them, they are not used consistently enough to make a significant difference to pupils' learning. Most pupils have good attitudes to their work, trying hard to do their best and working well with other pupils.

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Grade: 3

In the Foundation Stage there are good links between different topics and interesting activities provided for the children result in a good curriculum that meets pupils' needs well. The curriculum is satisfactory in the rest of the school. Appropriate emphasis is given to literacy and numeracy, but links between subjects including ICT are not developed well enough and this hampers some aspects of learning. Curriculum time is not always used well, an example being time allocated to reading in Years 5 and 6 which does not effectively meet pupils' needs. Initiatives to improve areas of weakness in pupils' learning, such as writing have been successfully trialled but they are not in place across the school. The curriculum provides well for personal development, for example sex and drugs education. Effective links with the neighbouring secondary school enhance the good provision for physical education. The school offers a good

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Grade: 3

range of lunch time and after school clubs that are popular with pupils and a satisfactory range of visits to various museums, parks and theatres extend learning.

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Grade: 3

Care, support and guidance are satisfactory. Pupils' behaviour and attendance are carefully monitored and the learning mentors carry out a valuable role in supporting individuals and their families. Some good work has been done in successfully improving attendance and punctuality this year, but more remains to be done to ensure that absences are always chased up quickly. Child protection, risk assessment and vetting procedures are securely in place, so that vulnerable pupils are adequately supported. The good links with outside agencies help to meet pupils' wide-ranging needs. The school's personal, social and health education (PSHE) programme helps deal with the challenges they are likely to meet in their everyday lives, for example, raising awareness of bullying, drugs and gang culture. Pupils with learning difficulties or whose first language is not English are provided with satisfactorily levels of support. A good

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Grade: 3

system for recording academic achievements has been recently introduced but it is only just beginning to be used as a planning tool to improve pupils' progress. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The headteacher, with the support of the deputy headteacher and other staff, has successfully led the amalgamation of the former infant and junior schools, creating a sense of unity, team spirit and common purpose amongst the staff. New structures and initiatives designed to improve the quality of provision and raise achievement and standards have been set up, one example being a good programme to improve teaching and learning in literacy and numeracy. However, arrangements to monitor and evaluate the programmes are not sufficiently well established to ensure consistent implementation throughout the school, thereby reducing their overall effectiveness. Other aspects of monitoring are better. For example, senior staff have an accurate picture of the overall quality of teaching across the school, but inconsistencies remain. They recognise that the next step is to use the results of

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Grade: 3

their monitoring to improve teaching so that it is consistently good. The priorities in the school development plan are appropriate and the school has a satisfactory capacity for improvement. Governors are knowledgeable and committed to the school, and carry out their role satisfactorily. They have worked hard to support the school through the amalgamation process and through the development of the Childrens' Centre. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007 .

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Grade: 3

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 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 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 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

3 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 3 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 3 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?

3 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

4 May 2007 Dear Pupils Inspection of Kensington Avenue Primary School, Kensington Avenue, Thornton Heath, CR7 8BT You may remember that three inspectors recently came to visit your school. We really enjoyed our visit and meeting you, your teachers and other people who work in the school. We are writing to let you know what we found out. We think that your headteacher has successfully set up the new school from the separate infant and junior schools. We know that you enjoy school and feel safe, but your attendance is well below that of pupils in other schools. You learn particularly well in the Nursery and Reception classes. In the rest of the school, you all make progress but not all of you do as well as you are able. Nearly all of you behave well, are polite and you look after one another. You develop good personal skills, such as self confidence and being responsible and knowing how to stay safe and healthy.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

We have made several suggestions as to what the school can do to improve further: • to help you improve your writing as this is the area in which some of you do least well • to improve aspects of teaching, for example, by giving harder work to those who can do it and making sure that everyone pays attention during lessons • to check that the various new ideas that are being introduced are working properly throughout the school • to work with you and your parents to try to improve your attendance. Thank you again for being so friendly. We enjoyed meeting you and send you our best wishes for the future. Yours sincerely, Ian Wilson Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Kensington Avenue Primary School, 25 °26 April 2007

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