Hadley Wood Primary School

Hadley Wood Primary School Inspection report

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101994 Unique Reference Number Enfield Local Authority 307869 Inspection number 12 June 2008 Inspection date Glynis Bradley-Peat 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 4 °11 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 237 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs K Fernandes Chair Mrs L Loizides Headteacher 24 November 2003 Date of previous school inspection Courtleigh Avenue School address Hadley Wood Barnet EN4 0HT 020 8440 4359 Telephone number 020 8216 3534 Fax number

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4-11 Age group 12 June 2008 Inspection date 307869 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 an Additional Inspector. The Inspector evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school and investigated the following issues.

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Introduction

■ What are senior leaders doing to ensure that pupils achieve as well as they can, particularly the higher attainers in English? ■ What impact are teaching and subject leadership having on raising standards and improving the percentage of pupils who gain L5? ■ What additional evidence do leaders have to demonstrate outstanding care guidance and support, curriculum and leadership and management? Evidence was gathered from the analysis of school documentation, observation of lessons, conversations with learners, questionnaires returned by parents and discussions with teachers, senior staff and governors. Other aspects of the school's work were not inspected in detail, but the inspector found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified, and these have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

This heavily over-subscribed primary school is of average size. A much lower than average proportion of pupils is eligible for free school meals. Almost half of the pupils come from minority ethnic backgrounds. Those pupils for whom English is an additional language is above average. The number identified with learning difficulties and those with a statement of educational need are low. The school has Investors in People, healthy schools status and the Activemark.

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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: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008

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Grade: 1

Hadley Wood provides an outstanding education for its pupils and parents are extremely happy that their children attend. Many positive comments have been received from parents and one wrote, 'My child is very happy at the school, she loves her teachers and always wants to go to school which is great!' The calm but highly effective leadership style of the headteacher ensures that there is high quality teamwork between school leaders and that all staff share the school's vision for the future. Because the headteacher has adopted a distributed leadership approach, staff have risen to the challenge and middle leaders are particularly effective. They check that the quality of teaching is up to scratch in their areas of responsibility and give support to teachers in implementing new initiatives. School self evaluation although good could more accurately reflect the many outstanding features of the school. It ensures that the school moves

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Grade: 1

towards continuing improvement. The headteacher and her deputy make sure that they focus well on raising standards and ensure that all pupils achieve as well as they possibly can. Work done on improving boys writing and boy's achievement in general, has paid great dividends and is making an excellent impact on standards in English. The subject leader has introduced a wide variety of strategies which have had an excellent impact to raise achievement amongst the higher attainers. Leaders and managers at all levels have a firm grip on what needs to be done to continue improving the performance of the school. The school's track record of consistently above average standards and excellent achievement is outstanding and quite plainly there is excellent capacity to make further improvements. Governors are proactive and involve themselves well in all the school does. They understand how and why the school is

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Grade: 1

performing as it is and know what steps it should take next on its journey of improvement. Currently, there are plans in place to promote and develop a more independent approach to learning in lessons. Leadership and management are outstanding. Standards are high and pupils do particularly well in mathematics. This has been the case for the last five years and this year standards are higher than at the time of the previous inspection. Achievement is outstanding. This is because teaching is excellent and motivates and engages all pupils very well. Many pupils make exceptional progress as reflected in the school's effective tracking systems, lesson observations and pupils' exercise books. Learners meet highly challenging targets. Pupils enjoy school very much and speak excitedly about the fun ways teachers teach them. They were keen to talk to the inspector about what they had learnt. They said, 'Lessons are fun and teachers help those who are struggling.' The new electronic

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Grade: 1

whiteboards have been embraced by staff who have become highly efficient in their use in a short time. They use them exceptionally well to make learning interesting and interactive. Teachers plan meticulously and consistently ensure that they meet the needs of all learners in their class. They do this through highly effective questioning and well organised paired and group activities. There is always a variety of work to challenge every learner. Teaching assistants support the pupils well because they are well briefed and understand the pupils' needs. The academic guidance offered to pupils is of the highest quality, particularly the way teachers set targets and review them with pupils. Marking is exemplary. Pupils appreciate the comments teachers make in their books. Targets are displayed in the front of exercise books and are regularly reviewed by teachers and new ones set. Pupils clearly know when they have achieved

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Grade: 1

their targets. One said, 'Three ticks show we have achieved our target.' Even the youngest pupils knew and understood their target. 4 of 10 Inspection Report: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008 Enjoyment is reflected in high attendance rates and pupils' behaviour is exemplary. Their personal development and well-being are excellent. Pupils feel safe and secure and adopt healthy lifestyles, the school council are proactive in ensuring the fabric of the school and the environment in the playground are improved, and are proud of their achievements. Contributions to community are varied and children enjoy them. Economic well being is excellent, basic skills equip them well for the future. During a Y1 mathematics lesson pupils were introduced to the concept of budgeting, which was linked well to the theme of the Olympic Games. Pupils say they feel very safe in school and they are clear about how to approach adults if they have a

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Grade: 1

problem. They also approach their peer mediators who 'help you find a solution to your own problem'. Parents say that care is of the highest order, one reporting, 'Any issues or concerns I have raised to the staff have always been responded to very promptly and appropriately.' Care, guidance and support are outstanding with assessment and academic guidance being excellent aspects. The system used for tracking pupil progress is clear and consistently used by all staff. The assessment feeds into planning the next steps in pupil learning. Safeguarding is thorough, child protection procedures are in place and all staff have received training. Pupils know who to come to if they have any problems and are confident that things will be effectively dealt with. Targets displayed in literacy and mathematics are known well by pupils who understand what they need to do to reach the next level of attainment. There is a wide variety of clubs and pupils say how much they enjoy them. These contribute

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Grade: 1

very well to the excellent curriculum. The art club is particularly popular and pupils said how much they liked 'making displays and settings for our productions'. Choir was also praised. Beautiful singing in the Key Stage1 assembly brightened up the morning. Other clubs include such diverse activities as sports, drama, art, chess, orchestra and stamp collecting. Pupils enjoy the visits and visitors to school very much. Pupils particularly enjoyed staying at 'Cuffley Camp' where they took part in various activities and 'played in the mud!' Children are given many opportunities to shine. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is well developed across the curriculum. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about how they enjoy using computers for researching, word processing and in mathematics. A Year One pupil explained carefully how she had used her ICT skills to draw graphs on the computer. Pupils learn French and Spanish.

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Grade: 1

There are a number of creative approaches to the curriculum through 'Focus Weeks' and through planning which help pupils make connections between subjects. Pupils have the opportunity to participate in sports competitions against other schools and music festivals. As a result of all these enrichment activities pupils achieve very well.

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Grade: 1

The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage is outstanding because of excellent leadership and management. Through play sessions, home school visits, pre-school visits, meetings with parents and a baseline assessment on entry the school gains very good knowledge and understanding of children's needs. This ensures that children settle easily into life in the Reception class. Pupils enter the school with just above average skills. Many make excellent progress and reach the early learning goals and some exceed them by the time they enter Year 1. In Reception children are provided with numerous activities to develop their skills. One little boy spent considerable time explaining to the inspector how playing with the sand enabled him to find coloured numbers so that he could practise his counting. The teacher's planning for learning is excellent in both the indoor and outdoor areas. Teaching is of high quality and clear directions to teaching

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Grade: 1

5 of 10 Inspection Report: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008 assistants ensure that they stimulate children well. Work on the maths table was facilitated very well by the teaching assistant and focused clearly on speaking and listening.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Ensure that the plans to involve pupils in a more independent approach to their learning are implemented and monitored. 6 of 10 Inspection Report: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 7 of 10 Inspection Report: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 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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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the 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? 1 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

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

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learners?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 How well learners enjoy their education 1 The attendance of learners 1 The behaviour of learners 1 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?

1 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: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008

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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 1 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 1 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

23 June 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Hadley Wood Primary School,Barnet,EN4 0HT Thank you very much indeed for the warm welcome I received at Hadley Wood Primary School. I was very impressed by your politeness and excellent behaviour. It was highly commendable, well done! I would like to give those of you who took the time out of your lunch hour to talk to me a special thank you. What a lot you had to say and how valuable it was. I was also interested to hear about the work of the school council and was delighted that you had achieved so much to improve the playground. You have definitely enjoyed the school visits you have been on and thank you for telling me about the mud at Cuffley Camp! I was very interested to hear about what you thought about the teaching in your school. I agree with you and think it is super. I was also pleased to hear that you all know your targets, but more importantly that you know how to achieve them. Your teachers do an excellent job and

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

work very hard planning lovely lessons for you. Your headteacher and her deputy work very hard too and do an excellent job. I came to inspect your school and found it to be outstanding. This means it is brilliant in many ways. Even in a school like yours there is always work to be done. I have asked your headteacher and her staff to make sure that the plans they have to help you learn things for yourself more are put into action. They will also need to watch carefully how well this is helping you to learn. Thank you once again for the great day I had in your school and I wish you all the very best for the future. Kind Regards Glyn Bradley-Peat Lead Inspector 10 of 10 Inspection Report: Hadley Wood Primary School, 12 June 2008

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