Holland Park Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve outcomes, especially at key stage 2, by:
  • ensuring that all leaders and teachers understand the need to focus their attention on improving pupils‟ progress as well their attainment, building on the foundations established this year to further improve the quality of teaching.
• Improve the curriculum by planning for pupils to acquire knowledge and understanding in scientific, linguistic, artistic and humanities subjects in a systematic way.
• Improve governance by increasing the number of trustees so that they have a better capacity to hold the school‟s leaders to account for the quality of education provided. An external review of governance should be undertaken to assess how this aspect of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The school‟s published information does not yet show the impact of the school‟s recent focus on the progress each pupil makes towards the attainment goals for their age.
• Subject leaders, other than in English and mathematics, have insufficient opportunity to ensure that teachers plan and teach subjects sequentially. This means that pupils are not able to transfer the building blocks of knowledge to their long-term memory.
• The school is taking action which is having some positive impact on the education of disadvantaged pupils. Leaders can describe how the additional funding is spent but have not been sufficiently rigorous in evaluating the impact of this spending.
• There has been considerable strengthening of leadership and management in the current academic year. The recently introduced performance management and accountability systems are effective. As a result, leaders now have a good understanding of the school‟s strengths and areas for development.
• Teachers value the recent focus on improving their practice through professional development. Skills have been checked as part of the performance management process and training identified as a result. A recently appointed member of staff commented positively on the „approach to new staff, ensuring adequate training for their role, encouraging us to “buddy up” with other staff to share concerns‟.
• Morale is very high. Staff are proud to work at the school. Ninety per cent of parents responding to Ofsted‟s online questionnaire Parent View would recommend the school, and a similar proportion believe the school is well-led and managed. While a few parents expressed justifiable concerns about stretch and challenge for high-attaining pupils, a typical praise was for: „Teachers that care about helping children succeed and putting things in place for it to happen. They take the time to build great relationships with the children, it‟s such a lovely school.‟
• Middle leaders are developing their role strongly. Phase leaders are strong role models of effective teaching and subject leaders understand how to promote effective teaching in their subjects. Recent appointments to these roles result in it being too soon to see any impact on outcomes.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. An experienced leader is aware of the strengths of the pastoral team and works well with them and with outside agencies to secure appropriate and focused support for pupils with complex needs. Accurate checking and record-keeping shows that pupils with SEND are making progress and demonstrates the success of interventions.
• Pupils‟ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well through assemblies and additional opportunities. However, the classroom curriculum is not planned well enough for subjects such as religious education, art and music to make a contribution to this area.
• The leadership of the early years is particularly effective. The leader‟s effectiveness has been recognised and, in response, she has recently taken on the mentoring of newly quality teachers. This is transforming a neglected area.
• The pastoral team is a real strength. Members of the team work successfully with pupils and parents to improve attendance and behaviour. Parents of pupils with SEND are particularly appreciative of the help they receive to gain additional support from external agencies.
• Sports premium is used well. Funding is used to support staff development and, in particular, to ensure that newly qualified teachers have opportunities to develop their skills as physical education teachers. The funding helps to ensure that pupils have regular exercise with 10 sports clubs running and two thirds of pupils able to swim.

Governance of the school

• There are too few trustees to hold the school to account.
• Trustees carry out their safeguarding responsibilities. They are enthusiastic supporters of the school.
• Trustees have recently attempted to increase their challenge to leaders through establishing a committee that focuses on standards and pupils, but this has not yet had impact.
• Trustees have recognised that they lack the capacity to fulfil their functions and are already seeking alternative structural arrangements to improve the school‟s governance.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders are very aware of the safety and welfare needs of their pupils. Staff are diligent in ensuring that they follow arrangements for child protection. All statutory requirements are met. Staff are trained regularly in safeguarding and have had training in anti-extremism. Most importantly, pupils say that they feel safe. Parents agree.
• Staff are vigilant in looking out for pupils‟ well-being and reporting any concerns. The welfare and happiness of pupils is at the heart of this school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching in key stage 2 is inconsistent. Here, teachers do not use the school‟s assessment policy consistently. As a result, errors in pupils‟ work are sometimes not identified. Partly because of the narrowness of the curriculum, teachers do not focus sufficiently on extending pupils‟ vocabulary.
• In some key stage 2 lessons, for example in a Year 5 mathematics lesson, teaching is highly effective at extending understanding and accelerating the progress of high-attaining pupils. This is far from universal and too often there is a lack of challenge for such pupils.
• Teaching beyond English and mathematics is too piecemeal. Teachers do not consider how pupils build knowledge sequentially or revisit the learning to develop pupils‟ recall. Learning intentions are not well planned in the foundation subjects.
• Teaching in the early years and key stage 1 is strong.
• The school‟s quality assurance processes for the quality of teaching are being used by leaders to improve the quality of teaching across the school. Teachers feel well supported, and value and apply the training they receive.
• Pupils with SEND are well supported during lessons and through interventions. Teaching assistants play an effective role in the classroom and when working with small groups.
• The arrangements for checking pupils‟ progress in reading, writing and mathematics is effective at identifying any pupils falling behind and to identify appropriate interventions.
• Leaders and teachers have a clear vision of what mathematics should be like. The school‟s assessment policy of providing „deeper thinking‟ feedback is mostly used well.
• Training for teachers is targeted to their needs. Teachers participate in a wide range of training programmes. Newly qualified teachers are now well supported and the rapid improvement in their practice can be seen through pupils‟ books.
• Pupils and parents report that teaching is good and pupils are making good progress. Evidence from lesson observation confirms that in most instances this is the case.
• Reading is taught well. There has been a new emphasis on reading this year. Pupils have appropriate strategies to tackle unfamiliar words, although they sometimes lack confidence in using the strategies.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school‟s work to promote pupils‟ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are good ambassadors for their school. They are welcoming and are happy to explain their work.
• Pupils‟ welfare and happiness is central to the work of the school. A typical parental comment was: „The school attends to all my child‟s needs and has made her very welcome into the school. All the children are well looked after. I couldn‟t want better for my child.‟
• Fundamental values are developed well. For example, there are many opportunities for pupils to participate in democracy through the school council, the multi-schools‟ councils and the many opportunities to volunteer. Good work has been undertaken to develop tolerance of people‟s differences. For example, the Junior Warden Project involved Year 6 in workshops aimed at raising awareness of cultural diversity. These included Bollywood-style dancing, African drumming and a visit from a young Syrian refugee telling pupils about his journey from Syria to the United Kingdom. The pupils presented their learning to their parents.
• The school seeks out opportunities for pupils to work with different groups of local people. For example, an inter-generational project enabled pupils from Years 3, 4 and Reception to spend six sessions with elderly residents. This had a profound impact on developing pupils‟ self-esteem.
• The parent council and school council have worked together on several projects including, most recently, setting up the 3PR scheme to help improve traffic congestion and parking problems outside the school. This initiative is funded through the Highways Agency and looks to reduce the number of people parking and dropping their children off on the zigzag lines outside schools. 3PR is part of a wider initiative to improve parking. The school works in partnership with residents and local councillors to help to improve safety by solving parking issues around the school.
• The school runs a good range of extra-curricular clubs and activities that include: football, basketball, tennis, golf, sailing, climbing, squash, judo, dancing, choir, stringed instrument tuition, woodwind and brass instrument tuition. Gym trail has been established to develop the physical skills of specific pupils across the school. These sessions are overseen by parent helpers.
• Daily assemblies have different themes. They provide opportunities to develop pupils‟ understanding of the arts although this is weak in the main school curriculum. Visitors are invited in to further enhance enrichment opportunities during assembly. These include the vicar of the parish church, a coastguard and a fire officer, but more could be done through the curriculum to raise pupils‟ aspirations and understanding of the world beyond Tendring.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils‟ behaviour in and around the school is positive. Staff, parents and pupils agree that behaviour is good. Pupils show respect to adults and any minor misbehaviour in lessons is dealt with quickly and well.
• The conduct of pupils with challenging behaviour is monitored to ensure that interventions are having a positive impact over time.
• There are successful initiatives to promote good relationships between staff and pupils and their families. Pupils feel safe and listened to.
• The pastoral team works closely with families to improve attendance and to overcome any barriers to pupils‟ learning.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• For the last three years pupils have not made sufficient progress in key stage 2. In 2018, pupils made average progress in writing, but progress in mathematics was below the national average and progress in reading was well below average.
• A new system has been introduced this year for monitoring progress across subjects beyond English and mathematics. Teachers are using this system to monitor the content of the topics they teach. Teachers hold this information with no overview or checking by leaders. Monitoring of how well pupils are doing in different subjects is embryonic, but this represents an improvement in the current academic year.
• While the needs of pupils with SEND are met well, higher-ability pupils are insufficiently stretched.
• Pupils arrive in the reception class with development that is often below typical for their age. They make good progress during reception. By the end of Year 1 pupils are scoring in line with the national average in the phonics screening check. By the end of Year 2 pupils attain broadly in line with the national average in reading, writing, mathematics and science.
• Within the overall picture of pupils‟ poor progress in key stage 2 there was improvement in 2018 on previous years. For example, there was a small increase in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. There was an increase of 21% from 2016 in the number of pupils reaching the expected standard by the end of key stage 2 in mathematics.
• The progress of current pupils continues to improve as the better quality of teaching leads to pupils making better progress. Leaders monitor how well pupils are doing and provide interventions to help them.
• Effective phonics teaching in reception and key stage 1 ensures that pupils have the reading skills necessary. Effective work is now taking pace in key stage 2 to help pupils progress further, although extending their vocabulary through a range of subjects remains an area that needs further development.

Early years provision Good

• The leader of the early years foundation stage has a thorough understanding of the needs of children and teachers. Leadership is very organised and ensures that children experience a curriculum that lays the foundations in the Reception class for pupils to do well further up the school. Leaders and teachers use assessment well to check children‟s learning and to plan their next steps.
• Children move freely between different purposeful activities. Adults check what they are doing, ensuring that each child is challenged to develop a range of skills. Children who are not making expected progress are given additional help in class. The impact of this help is checked by leaders.
• Behaviour is good. Children work and play together cooperatively. They are supervised well by adults. Children develop good learning skills. Children with challenging behaviour when they enter Reception are helped effectively to improve their behaviour before they get to Year 1.
• Parents are well informed about what their children are doing and the progress they are making through the online system to which parents contribute. Workshops for parents are well attended and enable close partnerships between school and home.
• Children with special needs have appropriate support. This includes making provision for particularly able readers to accelerate their reading.
• Early reading through the development of phonics skills is taught well, giving children a secure foundation for Year 1.
• Transition into the reception is managed well. There are good links with the neighbouring nursery with some sharing of outdoor resources. The Reception classes‟ own outdoor environment needs further development as there are better opportunities

Outdoor e nvironme nt o

for children to develop physical skills indoors than out.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141870 Essex 10058690 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Academy converter 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 425 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Carol Carlsson Browne Matthew Moseley 01255 422942 www.hollandparkprimary.org.uk admin@hollandpark.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• This is a larger than average-sized primary school. It is a member of the Premier Learning Multi-Academy Trust. This is a two-school MAT formed in 2016 based in Clacton-on-Sea. The former headteacher of Holland Park is the chief executive officer of the MAT.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils known to be entitled to the pupil premium is average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is at the national average. The proportion who have an education, health and care plan is also average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is low.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team observed pupils‟ learning in each class at least once. Nearly all observations were carried out jointly with members of the senior leadership team. Tours of the school were made with the headteacher and inspectors independently checked the quality of teaching and the behaviour of pupils in lessons. Observations of pupils‟ behaviour in the dining halls at breaktimes were made, as were observations of pupils around the site.
• The inspection team looked carefully at the quality of work in pupils‟ books to assess progress and teaching over time.
• The inspection team considered the 93 responses to the online parental questionnaire, Parent View, together with 46 written responses and the 31 responses to the staff questionnaire.
• The inspection team spoke by telephone with the chair of the trustees and met the deputy chair. They spoke with the headteacher, senior leaders, middle leaders, pastoral leaders, teachers and two different groups of pupils. Inspectors observed a wide range of school activities, including assembly, and pupil leadership activities.
• The inspection team analysed and scrutinised the school‟s self-evaluation documentation, school policies and progress information.
• Inspectors examined policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils in the school.

Inspection team

Adrian Lyons, lead inspector Jackie Mullan Simon Bell

Her Majesty‟s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector