Boxgrove Primary School

Boxgrove Primary School Inspection report

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100150 Unique Reference Number Greenwich Local Authority 307303 Inspection number 18–19 September 2008 Inspection dates Margaret Coussins Reporting inspector

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Primary Type of school Community School category 3–11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 307 School (total) 50 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the EYFS 0 Childcare provision for children aged 0 to 3 years The governing body Appropriate authority Ms K Ross Chair Ms C Owen Headteacher 15 March 2005 Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous funded early education inspection Not previously inspected Date of previous childcare inspection Boxgrove Road School address Abbey Wood London SE2 9JP 020 8310 1912 Telephone number 020 8312 9705 Fax number

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3–11 Age group 18–19 September 2008 Inspection dates 307303 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. 2 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Boxgrove is a larger than average primary school. Almost half of the pupils are eligible for free school meals. Over half are from minority ethnic groups. Almost one third have English as an additional language although none are at the early stages of learning English. These figures are much higher than found nationally. The proportion with learning difficulties or disabilities is more than is usually found, including those with a statement of special educational need. These difficulties relate mainly to moderate learning, behavioural, emotional and social, and speech, language and communication needs. Fifty children attend the Nursery on a part time basis. The school has the following awards: Basic Skills; Inclusion Charter Mark; Healthy School; Diana Anti-Bullying; Education Extra for After School Art and Drama.

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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: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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Grade: 3

This is a satisfactory school. It successfully includes pupils from a range of backgrounds, many of whom have complex learning, emotional or physical needs. There is a good ethos in which all pupils feel valued and supported to develop their confidence and self-esteem. As a result of this and the quality of the school's care and pastoral support, pupils' have good personal skills and good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. There are good partnerships with a range of other schools and agencies, which contribute well to pupils' well-being. For example effective work with a specialist school to increase the learning opportunities for pupils who find it difficult to moderate their own behaviour. Standards are below average and pupils' achievement, given their starting points is satisfactory. In the 2007 test results standards at the end of Year 6 were exceptionally low. In 2008 pupils did better than in previous years with many more reaching the expected levels. Improvement

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Grade: 3

is a result of a sharper focus on identifying pupils for extra support at an early stage. This is helping them to make better progress. Some more able pupils are not reaching the higher levels because the work set for them is not always sufficiently challenging. Pupils who have learning, behavioural, emotional or physical needs make similar and sometimes better progress than others because of the inclusive ethos and the extra help provided for them. Writing is the weakest area. Pupils do not have sufficient skills in organising and planning their writing for different purposes. The school has rightly increased the emphasis on pupils' speaking and listening skills as well as activities that ensure pupils learn from first hand experiences. For example, the recent development in the school grounds to provide exciting and interesting investigative science opportunities. This is successfully beginning to enrich pupils' vocabulary

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Grade: 3

and give them starting points and meaningful reasons for writing. The impact of initiatives in teaching pupils to link sounds and letters is seen in Year 1 where pupils are making good progress in their writing. This is not yet consistent in other year groups. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep fit and live a healthy lifestyle. They feel safe at school and free from bullying. The curriculum and teaching and learning are satisfactory. There are positive relationships between adults and pupils, and behaviour is good. Support staff play a valuable role in supporting pupils who need extra help. There are some inconsistencies in the teaching, particularly in how effectively teachers match work to suit pupils' differing abilities. Teachers' expectations of more able pupils are sometimes not high enough and this slows their rate of progress. Care, guidance and support are satisfactory. There are good systems established to safeguard

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Grade: 3

pupils and the learning mentors and other staff provide good support for vulnerable pupils and those who need someone to turn to. One pupil said, 'Teachers listen to us and we trust them'. The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the school is satisfactory with strengths in developing the school's positive ethos and its good pastoral care of pupils. The impact of its work is not always monitored with enough rigour to ensure that improvements happen at a faster pace and more challenging targets are set. Governors are supportive of the school. There is a clear awareness of the strengths of the school and what needs to be improved but this is not always focused tightly enough on standards. The school has a satisfactory capacity to improve further. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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Grade: 3

Children and their families benefit from good opportunities to visit the school before they start and home visits made by staff. This helps children to settle quickly and they make good gains in their personal development. They are happy, secure and have positive relationships with adults and other children. They play amicably together sharing equipment and space. Teaching and learning are satisfactory with an appropriate balance of teacher led activities and those where children make their own choices. Sometimes independent activities are not sufficiently focused on extending children's learning and consequently children's progress slows particularly in writing and some aspects of mathematical development. Children start with skills and abilities that are usually well below those expected for their ages but are currently slightly better than this. Their achievement is satisfactory. Many children now reach some of the early learning

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Grade: 3

goals at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, on entering Year 1, children's attainment remains below expectations particularly in writing, reading, calculation and emotional development. Children's welfare is a high priority and close partnership with parents and external agencies helps to meet the needs of all children. Leadership and management are satisfactory, because, as the school has identified there is a need for the manager to have a greater focus on monitoring and improving the quality of teaching and learning.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Raise standards in writing across the school.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve teaching by raising expectations and matching work more precisely to challenge the more able particularly in writing. ■ Ensure there is more effective and rigorous monitoring and evaluation to improve the pace of school improvement leading to more challenging targets. 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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Grade: 3

When pupils join the school they have skills and knowledge that are below and often well below those expected for their age. In recent years national test results at the end of Year 2 and 6 have been consistently below average in all subjects. This year however, evidence shows that the proportion of pupils reaching expected levels is much closer to average. Achievement is satisfactory. The school's own data shows that achievement is too uneven across the school. Progress in writing is not good enough and standards are lower than in other areas. Across the school, more able pupils are not sufficiently challenged and as a result not enough reach the higher levels in all subjects in Year 2 and Year 6. Pupils with English as an additional language achieve as well as others because the school intervenes early and effective support programmes are established.

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Grade: 2

Pupils say they enjoy school and appreciate the number of clubs and extra activities that are provided. As a result, attendance has improved steadily and is now average. Pupils understand 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008 and appreciate the behaviour codes, rewards and sanctions. They develop a good understanding of how to keep safe. They are confident that if any untoward behaviour occurs, staff deal with it quickly and fairly. They are considerate and accepting of differences in others' social and cultural backgrounds or physical difficulties. Good personal skills and improving standards in basic skills are helping to prepare pupils adequately for the next stage of their education. Pupils have a good understanding about working in a community and readily accept responsibility as school councillors and playground buddies. They are involved well in the local community and

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Grade: 2

raise substantial amounts of money for charity. They welcome the local community into their school for special event weeks and the many music and drama performances. There is scope for providing more opportunities for pupils to take greater responsibility in the school and for their own learning.

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Grade: 3

Adults have good relationships with pupils. Consequently pupils develop good attitudes to learning and behave well in lessons. Some lessons are interesting and fun but there are not enough of these to thoroughly enliven learners and lift the pace of learning from satisfactory to good. One pupil said, 'We learn more when teachers make it fun and don't just talk all the time'. Assessment, marking and target setting are not sufficiently well threaded together to enable all pupils to know how they can improve. Teachers do not always make effective use of assessment information to plan the next steps in learning. As a result work is not always challenging enough, particularly for more able pupils. In some lessons teachers pose good questions to encourage pupils to give extended responses, improving their speaking, language, and thinking and communication skills. This is not consistent in all lessons and often teachers

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Grade: 3

do not have high enough expectations. Pupils are particularly motivated and inspired by the use of interactive whiteboards.

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Grade: 3

The curriculum is enhanced and enriched with a good range of additional activities and clubs including, art, drama, music and sports. These make a significant contribution to pupils' personal development. School performances are a source of pride and enjoyment for parents and children. There is a satisfactory focus on basic literacy, numeracy, science and information and communication technology skills. The curriculum is carefully and sensitively modified and additional support put in place for vulnerable pupils and those who have learning difficulties or disabilities. The needs of more able pupils however, are not consistently met. Special events and weeks like the recent topic on China provide good opportunities to link learning across many subjects and forge good links with parents, the local and wider communities. The curriculum is currently being reviewed to provide more creative links across all subjects and

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Grade: 3

make learning more meaningful for pupils. The review includes the introduction of philosophy for children to help develop their thinking skills. 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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Grade: 3

The school provides good pastoral care for its pupils. One pupil said, 'The best thing about my school is that you make lots of friends and everyone looks after you'. Procedures, including safeguarding and child protection arrangements are robust and effective. Links with other agencies are strong in providing additional support and advice and as a result pupils with learning difficulties are included in all aspects of school life. Systems for ensuring regular attendance are rigorous and have led to steady improvements over the past three years. Pupils who have difficulties with behaviour or emotional needs are managed well and benefit from the support of learning mentors. The school is recognised for its capacity to successfully reintegrate pupils who have been excluded from other schools. There is satisfactory academic guidance for pupils. Marking is satisfactory but it does not always inform pupils about what

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Grade: 3

they can do to improve. Procedures for monitoring and tracking pupils' progress are well established but the information is not used consistently to set challenging targets for learners to further improve their standards.

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Grade: 3

Senior leaders know the school's strengths and weaknesses and seek out ideas from a wide range of stakeholders to improve provision. The strategies established by the leadership of the school have resulted in the recent improvement in pupils' progress, and halted the decline in standards seen in 2007. The school recognises that work needs to continue to accelerate the progress of pupils. Evaluation of the school's work is mainly accurate. However, the monitoring information is not always used to set higher expectations and targets and drive forward school improvement at a faster pace. All leaders and managers share the same vision for improving standards and keeping the needs of all the pupils at the forefront of the school's work. Subject leaders make a satisfactory contribution to school improvement. They provide effective guidance for colleagues but opportunities to monitor the quality of provision, especially teaching and

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Grade: 3

learning, are not consistent in all areas. Governance is satisfactory. Governors support the school well and are very active in the life of the school. They do not always fully hold the school to account for its work because monitoring arrangements are not always focused tightly enough on standards. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008 .

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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: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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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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needs of learners?

Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well being? 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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EYFS?

3 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? How good are the overall personal development and well-being of the children in the EYFS? 3 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 2 How effectively is the welfare of children in the EYFS promoted? 3 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed?

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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/or disabilities make progress

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Achievement and standards

1 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: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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learners?

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

How well do the curriculum and other activities meet the range of needs and interests of learners? 3 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 3 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

02 October 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Boxgrove Primary School,London,SE2 9JP I am writing to thank you for making my colleagues and I so welcome when we visited your school. Thank you for talking to us about your work and telling us what you think about your school. Your school is satisfactory which means you learn new things steadily, but there is still more to do to make the school even better. These are the things we think are best about your school.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You enjoy coming to school and really appreciate all the extra activities and events the staff provide for you. ■ Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are helped to settle in well and they feel happy and safe. ■ You get on well with each other and all of the staff.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Your behaviour is good which helps you learn in your lessons.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You know how to stay healthy and safe.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Everyone in the school cares for you very well.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ The school works well with people outside of the school to help you all do your best.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Congratulations for coming to school more regularly, keep this up.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

We want the school to work on the following important things.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Help you to improve your writing skills and give you lots of exciting reasons for writing.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Work is sometimes not hard enough for those of you who find learning easy so we have asked your teachers to make sure it is just right for you. ■ We have asked the staff who lead and manage your school to check carefully on everything that goes on in school. This is to make sure things can improve more quickly and so that everyone can expect you to do even better in your lessons. Thank you again for all your help and for being so friendly and interesting to talk to. Our best wishes for the future. Yours sincerely Margaret Coussins Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Boxgrove Primary School, 18–19 September 2008

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