Thomas Willingale Primary School and Nursery Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Continue to improve the teaching, learning and assessment of reading so that all groups of pupils make at least the same level of progress as they do in writing and mathematics by: improving pupils’ vocabulary and language skills so that they can fully understand what they are reading improving pupils’ understanding of character and themes in texts.
• Ensure that teachers provide guidance for writing in all areas of the curriculum so that pupils make rapid progress.
• Ensure that pupils independently apply the skills they learn across the curriculum more consistently.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The head teacher and her leadership team, including governors, effectively share their vision for the success of all pupils with staff. Leaders ensure that staff receive pertinent professional development to further improve their teaching. As a result, staff feel well supported and prepared to deliver strong lessons to pupils across the curriculum.
• Leaders and governors analyse pupil data well to inform improvements in the school. Staff are aware of the school’s priorities and how to achieve them.
• Leaders have embedded a clear and effective system for monitoring the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Consequently, staff are commended for their hard work and provided with additional assistance where necessary. Leaders’ attention to the strengths and areas for development of their staff has resulted in high levels of retention.
• Middle leaders work well as a team across the curriculum and year groups. They ensure that whole-school priorities are embedded in their respective areas. Leaders share approaches to ensure that pupils make good progress. They have clear monitoring systems with which to track pupils, enabling effective support to be provided where required.
• Leaders have ensured that all pupils have access to a rich and well-balanced curriculum. Pupils throughout the school have ample opportunities to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding across a range of subjects, such as French, music, history, geography, physical education and science.
• Pupils are very appreciative of the opportunities to develop their skills, understanding and knowledge through the many extra-curricular trips, visitors and clubs that the school offers. For example, pupils visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to develop a stronger understanding of the Victorians and their British heritage.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school. Pupils gain a clear understanding of the importance of free speech, tolerance and democracy through forums such as the school council and the ideas boxes in each class that provide an opportunity to express their views about school.
• Leaders ensure that the school is fully inclusive. Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities receive support tailored to meet their specific needs. Leaders ensure that pupils, parents and staff are involved in the setting of targets alongside regular reviews of provision. As a consequence, these pupils make progress in line with other pupils nationally.
• Leaders prioritise the academic and social needs of disadvantaged pupils. Additional funding is used effectively to support pupils in class with extra help and to ensure that they have full access to extra-curricular activities. Leaders have ensured that pupils’ progress is monitored closely and reviewed frequently. Pupils are involved in identifying barriers and creating aspirational targets. As a consequence, disadvantaged pupils make good progress across the curriculum.
• Leaders use the primary physical education and sport premium very effectively to engage pupils in a range of competitive sports. Pupils of all levels of ability have opportunities to play a variety of sports, such as archery and curling.
• Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. Parents who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, overwhelmingly recommended the school. Parents are very complimentary of the school’s leadership and the caring, supportive approach towards their children. One parent stated that the school was ‘excellent’ and another commented on the fact that the school ‘has gone from strength to strength’.

Governance

• Governors are effective in holding the headteacher and her leadership team to account. As regular visitors to the school, they are able to gather critical information with which to commend the school for its successes and to pose challenge.
• Governors communicate their work effectively with parents through the website. They ensure that their focus is explicitly linked to the school improvement priorities. As a result, they are able to oversee the impact of improvement strategies with insight and knowledge.
• Governors have a strong oversight of the school budget. They ensure that the best interests of pupils inform all expenditure. They maintain a robust focus on the school’s use of the funding for disadvantaged pupils by posing challenging questions and analysing the impact of this funding on pupils’ achievements. Additionally, governors review the expenditure of the sport premium, ensuring that pupils experience a range of sports that match their needs.
• Governors frequently review the school’s safeguarding procedures to ensure that all pupils are kept safe and that all requirements are met.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school maintains a robust record of checks made on all adults who work at the school. The procedures for the safe recruitment of staff are rigorous.
• Leadership of safeguarding is strong. Leaders are vigilant to the needs of pupils and are tenacious in ensuring their physical safety and emotional well-being. The school has a full-time family coordinator who works closely with vulnerable pupils and their families. This approach has had a measurable impact on the well-being of pupils.
• School leaders, staff and governors undertake regular safeguarding and ‘Prevent’ duty training. Staff are acutely aware of their duty to keep children safe and the processes by which they can make a referral. Robust, secure records are maintained.
• Parents overwhelmingly agreed in the questionnaire that their children were safe at the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers plan exciting lessons which engage and enthuse pupils. Pupils are eager to learn and demonstrate very strong learning behaviours. For example, the inspector observed Year 6 pupils engrossed in multiplying fractions. Similarly, the inspector observed Year 2 pupils’ excitement at and engagement in writing postcards as though they were on the moon.
• Pupils and staff have very positive relationships which help to create the harmonious learning environment evident throughout the school. The school council told an inspector that the ‘best thing about the school is the teachers’.
• Teachers plan lessons with care and consideration to meet the needs of all pupils. Inspectors observed the teaching of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. With bespoke support, including resources and teaching assistant support, pupils are able to access the curriculum successfully and make progress.
• The teaching of mathematics is a particular strength of the school. Pupils develop critical reasoning skills which enable them to explain how they arrived at a particular result and, consequently, make good progress. Staff provide pertinent challenge to support pupils’ development. As a result, many pupils told inspectors that mathematics was their favourite subject.
• Staff embed key grammatical concepts in the teaching of writing. Pupils are able to articulate their vocabulary and grammatical choices in their writing. As a consequence, pupils are able to improve their writing through revision and crafting.
• The teaching and learning of personal, health and social education is strong. Pupils learn how to keep physically healthy and to be emotionally resilient and well balanced. For example, key stage 1 pupils learn peer massage to calm themselves down after lunch.
• Phonics teaching is robust and systematic. All staff employ the same agreed system, allowing for reinforcement and the sharing of expertise. Pupils consistently make good progress in phonics, enabling them to access the wider curriculum.
• Teaching assistants provide effective support for pupils. They receive regular training which enables them to provide pertinent support, such as effective questioning.
• Pupils are eager, considerate, thoughtful learners. They use collaborative talk well to support and extend their understanding. Inspectors observed pupils respond to other pupils’ reading in a Year 1 class with empathy and constructive feedback.
• The teaching of reading does not systematically develop pupils’ understanding of how language can shape meaning in texts. Pupils do not consistently develop the skills of working out what words mean dependent on their context in a text. They do not systematically develop the skills and understanding of how writers use language to shape a reader’s view of characters, setting and themes.
• Teachers’ guidance for pupils’ writing in areas of the curriculum other than English does not clearly identify next steps to improve their writing skills. As a consequence, pupils do not craft their writing for a range of purposes and audiences across the curriculum.
• Pupils do not independently apply the reading, writing and mathematics skills they have learned to other subjects in the curriculum.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• The school is alert to the emotional well-being and physical safety of pupils. As a result, the school has appointed pupils to act as play leaders in the playground. Pupils respond very well to the intervention of their peers in resolving issues and providing friendship. Additionally, several pupils have been trained as peer mediators to support the de-escalation of arguments in the playground. Pupils reported to the inspector that this has been successful in maintaining a harmonious playground.
• Pupils develop critical debating skills in their lessons and through forums such as the school council. Pupils engage in supporting those less fortunate through fundraising for charities such as BBC Children in Need.
• The school council demonstrates how British values are embedded in the school. Pupils are elected democratically and take their representation very seriously. They discuss issues with their class and bring their views to the school council meetings.
• Pupils have exceptional attitudes towards learning. Pupils are focused, enthused and supportive of each other’s learning. For example, in a Year 5 class, the inspector observed pupils discussing the themes in a novel with empathy and understanding.
• Pupils understand the potential dangers of the internet and know how to keep themselves safe.
• Pupils can define bullying and state categorically that it is a rare occurrence. When it does take place, pupils are confident that staff will resolve it swiftly and effectively.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Pupils state clearly that they know who to go to if they have a problem. They also state that they are very confident their problem will be resolved quickly through staff support.
• Pupils’ conduct, both in lessons and around the school, is exemplary. Staff promote the school values of kindness and respect. They lead by example.
• Pupils work and play well together. They are kind, courteous and respectful of the needs of others. They are also highly inclusive of all pupils.
• Pupils’ work is neat and presented well, exemplifying pride in their work.
• Attendance has improved markedly for all groups and is now in line with the national average. Leaders have worked hard to improve attendance, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. Through a series of rewards, reminders of the link between achievement and attendance, the family coordinator’s work with families and work with Havering local authority, rates of attendance and punctuality have improved.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Through highly focused teaching and assessment, the proportion of children who make a good level of development at the end of the early years has risen significantly between 2014 and 2016 to above the national average.
• In 2016, pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, in both key stage 1 and key stage 2 improved their overall progress in mathematics and were in line with the national expectations.
• The attainment of pupils in 2016 and 2017 improved and many were significantly above the national average in mathematics at both key stages. Leaders and staff focus on developing pupils’ fluency with mathematics and their ability to understand and explain how to solve mathematical problems. Outcomes for the national phonics screening check in 2016 and 2017 have improved thanks to focused and systematic teaching. Pupils’ achievements are just above the national average, enabling pupils to access the key stage 1 curriculum effectively and successfully.
• Most pupils’ progress and attainment in reading in 2017 were below the national averages at key stage 2. Leaders have identified this as a critical area for improvement and current results demonstrate that pupils are making rapid improvements. The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, have achieved above the national average in writing for the past three years. Inspection evidence demonstrates that grammatical knowledge is embedded in the teaching of writing, enabling pupils to reflect and craft their writing well.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make progress in line with other pupils nationally. They receive effective, tailored support that is reviewed regularly.

Early years provision Good

• Since 2014, the proportion of children achieving a good level of development at the end of Reception has risen and is now above the national average. This is due to the focused approach of the early years leadership and staff. Recognising that language ability was a potential barrier to achievement, leaders embedded a language-focused assessment for all children on entry to Reception. Children who are identified as requiring additional support make progress through bespoke strategies.
• Leadership of Nursery and Reception is strong. Across the different settings, leaders have a clear vision to ensure that all children develop critical skills for successful academic study at key stage 1 and to connect effectively with their friends and adults.
• Staff in both Nursery and Reception construct engaging tasks that develop children’s motor skills, alongside early reading, writing and critical language skills. Children in Reception were observed, for example, using language to construct an imaginary world of hospitals where doctors and nurses treated patients.
• Children learn how to cooperate with others in both Nursery and Reception. They learn the social skills of tolerance, support and sharing through the variety of resources and activities provided.
• Children respond very well to staff expectations. Children learn about the importance of kindness, tolerance, respect and courtesy. They also learn to maintain their attention and to be resilient in their learning.
• The relationship with parents is very strong. Parents are daily visitors to Nursery and regular visitors to Reception. They inform their child’s initial assessment, as well as contributing to their online assessment journal. Parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, were very pleased with the support provided for their children. One parent commented that they were ‘really impressed with how smartly the school handled the run-up to Reception’, which was echoed by many other parents.
• As a result of the effective provision provided in the early years, children are well prepared and ready for the challenges of Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 115309 Essex 10031572 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Maintained 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 485 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Rhian Jenkins Teresa Phillips 020 8508 7287 www.thomaswillingaleprimary.co.uk admin@thomaswillingale.essex.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 16–17 January 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than an average-sized primary school.
• The majority of pupils are White British.
• The proportion of pupils supported by pupil premium funding is average.
• The overall proportion of pupils who receive support for their SEN and/or disabilities is below average.
• In 2016, the school met the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations of pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons in Nursery, Reception, key stage 1 and key stage 2 jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, the leaders of mathematics, English, science, the early years, SEN and/or disabilities, religious education, geography, phonics and physical education, phase leaders, four governors, the school improvement partner, pupils and teachers.
• Pupils’ books and records of their progress were scrutinised.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and discussed their reading experiences with them.
• Account was taken of parent and staff responses to questionnaires and surveys.
• A range of documentation was examined, including the school’s development plan and analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, safeguarding policies and records and records made by leaders on the quality of teaching.

Inspection team

Susan Aykin, lead inspector Vicky Parsey Teresa Skeggs Simon Webb Alison Martin Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector