Ridgeway Primary School

Ridgeway Primary School Inspection report

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130915 Unique Reference Number Croydon Local Authority 315655 Inspection number 20 June 2008 Inspection date 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 686 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr D Brown Chair Mrs J Redzimski Headteacher 22 September 2003 Date of previous school inspection Southcote Road School address South Croydon CR2 0EQ 020 8657 8063 Telephone number 020 8657 5438 Fax number

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3-11 Age group 20 June 2008 Inspection date 315655 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

■ the progress and achievement of pupils

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Introduction

■ how well the school assesses the attainment of pupils and monitors their progress

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Introduction

■ the quality of teaching and the curriculum

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Introduction

■ how effectively the school monitors and evaluates its work.

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Introduction

Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail. Evidence was gained from lessons and the school's own evaluations of its work. Discussions were held with governors, staff and pupils and a range of documentation was evaluated. Pupils' work was scrutinised in English and mathematics. The views of parents were gathered from questionnaires.

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Description of the school

Ridgeway is a large primary school. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic and having a home language other than English are above average, with the main languages spoken being Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi. Pupils' social and economic circumstances are better than those usually found. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties is below average. The school has gained a number of awards for the quality of its work including, Artsmark (gold), Activemark (for physical education), the ICT Mark (for Information and Communication Technology) and the Healthy Schools Award.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 June 2008

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Grade: 3

Ridgeway is a satisfactory school. A majority of parents are pleased with the school and, in particular, its ethos 'I feel that Ridgeway School has a fantastic environment for my children. It encourages positive learning and behaviour and my children feel part of a caring community'. This comment encapsulated the views of a number of parents. However, some parents though generally happy with the school expressed concerns, in particular about the progress their children were making. A strength of the school is the way in which it develops pupils personally. Relationships in the school are good, Pupils get on well together and are good at working in teams. Most behave well. They are happy and enjoy school and this is reflected in their above average attendance. They contribute to the community, for example through running a 'Fair Trade' stall in school and collecting for charities. They develop responsibility and self-confidence well and they have

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Grade: 3

a good understanding about staying healthy and keeping safe. These good personal qualities, coupled with good skills in literacy, numeracy and information and communications technology (ICT) ensure that they are well prepared for the next stage in their education. The achievement of pupils in the school is satisfactory. Children enter the Nursery and Reception classes with levels of skills, knowledge and understanding that are above average. They make overall satisfactory progress as they move through the school and this leads to them attaining above average results in the statutory assessments at the end of Year 6. Pupils who need extra help with their work or speak English as an additional language make similar progress to other pupils. Pupils progress is, however, variable, being better in some classes than in others, and there was a drop in standards attained by pupils in statutory assessments in 2007. Both teaching

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Grade: 3

and the curriculum have significant strengths but they have important weaknesses also which account for these variations in progress. There is good teaching but, overall, both teaching and the curriculum are satisfactory. Teachers are enthusiastic, committed and have good subject knowledge. The curriculum is planned so that subjects are linked and learning made more relevant to pupils. Pupils commented on how this makes learning interesting and enjoyable. For example, a mathematics investigation around the relation between the number of steps and number of bricks in a staircase was linked to a visit to a Buddhist temple made as part of work in humanities. Pupils carry out research, make good use of ICT and work well independently and with others. Some activities, though, are not sufficiently challenging or have clear enough aims and sometimes pupils need more guidance on what is expected of them. In some lessons, the pace could be better. Written

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Grade: 3

marking is not used within the school but teachers, when working with pupils in their groups, provide them with good oral feedback and guidance on how to improve their work. However, whilst doing this, they do not always check sufficiently on the progress of pupils working independently and the pace of their work slows; a few also become restless and lose focus. Other forms of guidance include language prompts, checklists of what pupils should include in their work and targets. Pupils find these helpful, but some targets are not sharply focussed enough. The curriculum is enriched by the many visits undertaken by pupils and visitors to the school. There is a good range of after school clubs in which there is good participation by pupils. Pupils are looked after and statutory safeguarding requirements are met. The headteacher has established a climate in the school in which relationships are good and

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Grade: 3

there is good teamwork. Staff, including teaching assistants, are deployed so as to make good 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 June 2008 use of their skills. Monitoring of performance is regular but is not contributing well enough to improvement because it is not always sufficiently focussed and some of the school's judgements about the quality of its work are over optimistic. Pupils' progress is monitored and the information used to plan further support for those who need extra help with their learning. It is not used well enough though to ensure that all pupils are making the progress of which they are capable. Action taken by the school is, however, leading to improvement. For example, work on improving pupils' understanding of sounds and letters and writing skills is leading to improved standards in writing. The school has fully addressed the issues raised in the last inspection and it has satisfactory capacity for further improvement.

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Grade: 3

Governors are committed, have a good knowledge of the school and provide a good balance of support and challenge. An example of the latter is their involvement this year in setting whole school targets which are sufficiently challenging. In previous years the school's targets have been unambitious.

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Grade: 3

The Foundation Stage shares similar strengths and weaknesses as the school as a whole. Children are happy and well looked after. Interesting activities are prepared for them and there is a good balance of teacher lead and independent work. Sometimes, for example when working outdoors, children need more guidance to benefit fully from some of the activities. From their above average starting points, children make satisfactory progress and attain above average standards at the end of the Reception year in all areas except writing. The acting leader of the Foundation Stage has good subject knowledge. She has established good arrangements to monitor children's day to day progress and use the information to plan future work. However, children's overall progress is not evaluated.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve the progress of pupils by ensuring that they are sufficiently challenged.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good by ensuring that guidance and support and the pace of lessons are more consistent. ■ Improve monitoring by ensuring it is tightly focussed, so that the school is able to judge its effectiveness more accurately. 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. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 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. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 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? 3 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 3 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

3 How well do learners achieve? 2 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 extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 2 How well learners enjoy their education 2 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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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. 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 3 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? 8 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 June 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

03 July 2008 Dear Pupils Inspection of Ridgeway Primary School,South Croydon,CR2 0EQ You may remember that I recently came to visit your school. Thank you for making me feel so welcome. You were all very polite, confident and told me what you thought very clearly. I really enjoyed meeting you, your teachers and other people who work in the school, and am writing to let you know what I found out. I think that you go to a satisfactory school. Your headteacher and your other teachers look after you and I know that you enjoy school. You all make satisfactory 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. I have made three suggestions as to what the school can do to improve further.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Ensure that the learning activities provided for you are well planned and sufficiently challenging. ■ Improve teaching by ensuring that you are more consistently helped and supported in lessons so that you are working as well as you can. ■ Check more carefully on the school's strengths and weaknesses so that the school has a clearer idea of what it is doing well and what needs improving. You can help by continuing to work hard, concentrating in lessons and helping each other. Thank you again for being so friendly. I enjoyed meeting you and send you my best wishes for the future. Yours sincerely Ian Wilson Lead Inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Ridgeway Primary School, 20 June 2008

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