Trent CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the outside space for Reception so that it provides a more stimulating environment for children and supports their learning better.
• Build on the work to develop the curriculum by including a greater focus on history and geography.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher and deputy headteacher set a culture of aspiration, learning and respect in which everyone, including staff, governors, pupils and parents, is valued. Strong relationships, high expectations and a belief that everyone can excel defines Trent CofE Primary School and is the recipe for its success.
• Leadership is highly effective. The drive for improvement is both relentless and caring. This steely determination to constantly improve is underpinned by a generosity of spirit that permeates the school at every level of its work. Staff strive successfully to provide the very best teaching. As a result, pupils’ achievements are first rate.
• Leaders evaluate the school’s performance with a rigour and candour that ensures priorities for improvement are relevant and sharp. They use a wide range of information including assessments, work in books and the views of pupils. This enables staff to focus on those things that make the most difference to pupils’ learning, progress and well-being. Weaknesses are tackled vigorously, ensuring that none are allowed to hold back pupils’ learning. As a result, improvement is brisk and pupils receive a high-quality education.
• Leaders have been quick to introduce the new national curriculum and assessment procedures that allow teachers to check pupils’ progress accurately. Teachers have an in-depth knowledge of pupils’ progress, whether they are on track to reach their targets and any gaps or misconceptions in their learning. Regular meetings with class teachers to discuss each pupil’s achievements ensure that learning and progress are kept at the top of everyone’s agenda. As a result, all pupils are given the support and confidence to achieve well.
• Teachers follow the school’s marking policy effectively to give pupils incisive advice about how to improve their work. This has a marked impact on pupils’ progress as evidenced by work in their books. For example, pupils’ writing is of a high quality because they are given clear and helpful feedback about how to improve their work.
• Appraisal is used effectively to support teachers and set targets for improvement. The link between these targets and those for the school as a whole is especially effective because it ensures that all staff tackle the school’s priorities consistently and are working to achieve the same outcomes. The appraisal process is linked closely to teachers’ salary progression.
• The procedures for managing teaching assistants are also rigorous. They have weekly meetings with senior leaders, work closely with class teachers to plan learning and are regularly consulted. These arrangements mean that they are an integral part of the school’s teaching resource. Teaching assistants are treated as co-professionals and their contribution highly valued. As a result, they have a lasting impact on pupils’ achievements.
• Pupils experience a broad curriculum that provides them with a wide range of experiences and opportunities. For example, the school is currently developing its creative curriculum so that pupils’ learning in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics is enhanced. Achievement in art and music is already strong and pupils get huge enjoyment out of playing an instrument and using art to celebrate pupils’ different backgrounds. Leaders recognise that history and geography could be developed further.
• The curriculum is extended well by a varied range of after-school clubs. These include a breakfast and teatime club, art, dance, drama, choir, gardening, ballet, computer programming and a number of sports such as girls’ football and tag rugby. These provide pupils with opportunities to broaden their interests and enable them to be successful in areas outside of the formal curriculum. For example, pupils have won gardening prizes and provide plants and flowers for the local tube station. The impact of the extra-curricular provision is noticeable. Pupils are proud of their additional achievements and grow in confidence as a result.
• Leaders use the additional funding the school receives effectively to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make the best possible progress. A range of interventions and activities, including one-to-one support and small-group work, has a strong impact on pupils’ learning and progress. For example, the school has organised mathematics teaching in Years 5 and 6 so that work can be matched closely to pupils’ individual needs. Teachers and teaching assistants support all pupils, including the lower attainers and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, extremely well.
• The additional funding for physical education (PE) and sport is also used effectively. In PE lessons and during lunchtime, specialist sports coaches provide a variety of activities that enable pupils to develop their physical skills well.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are given high-quality support that is matched carefully to their needs. This support can range from additional help with their class work to giving pupils opportunities to take responsibility for an aspect of the school, for example as play leaders or fish monitors. The consequent rise in these pupils’ self-esteem plays a significant part in helping them to achieve well in their class work.
• Parents are very positive about the way the school is led and managed. They are especially positive about the high-quality communication between the school and parents. Parents feel well informed about the school’s work and their children’s progress, which they say is strong. One noted that her child ‘is flying’.

Governance of the school

• Governors provide support and challenge in equal measure. They have a thorough knowledge of the school’s performance and its strengths and weaknesses. This is because they receive a wide range of information and make regular visits to the school to carry out learning walks and look at pupils’ books. Governors are skilled in using this information wisely. Where they need additional training or updating on new requirements, they are quick to take up the opportunities provided by the local authority.
• Governors bring a broad range of skills to their role and are often experts in their field. This enables the governing body to carry out its responsibilities and duties effectively, including those for managing finance. For example, governors understand fully the need to provide incentives to encourage staff to stay but are equally mindful of the budget constraints.
• The commitment of governors to the school’s culture of high aspirations, respect for others and for learning is without question. They share the headteacher’s passion for excellence with humanity and use their role to reinforce the high-quality relationships across the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s policies and procedures meet current requirements and are systematically reviewed and updated. For example, all staff have received and read the latest version of the Department for Education document, ‘Keeping children safe in education’. Staff training is thorough and regular. All staff, including lunchtime supervisors, understand how to identify the signs of abuse and know to whom to report any concerns. As a result, there is a strong culture of safeguarding and pupils are kept safe at all times. Pupils noted that they feel safe in school ‘because teachers are always there’.
• Parents have great confidence in the school’s work to promote safeguarding and ensure their children’s safety. They note that their children are well informed about safety and that newsletters give parents a great deal of information about areas such as e-safety.
• Referrals are followed up robustly so that no incidents go unreported. Careful records of any incidents are maintained by the headteacher, who is also the designated safeguarding lead. There are good links with local social services.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• High expectations, stimulating lessons, highly effective marking and feedback, and challenging work characterise the school’s outstanding teaching. These factors ensure that pupils make excellent progress with their learning.
• Teachers’ high expectations are demonstrated in the way pupils are given work that challenges them to think and apply their learning. This is the case for all pupils, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, the most able and disadvantaged pupils. In every class, work is planned carefully to ensure that the needs of each pupil are met. This is because teachers have a detailed knowledge of pupils’ progress and gaps in their learning. They know which aspects of the curriculum pupils are struggling with and adapt their teaching to ensure that everyone in the class gets the support they need.
• Teaching assistants make a significant contribution to pupils’ learning and work in close partnership with teachers. They play a full part in the work of the school and in lessons. As a result, their impact on pupils’ learning, and on the school’s positive climate, is strong.
• Teachers are skilled in asking pupils questions that make them think. For example, in mathematics lessons, pupils are asked to explain how they arrived at the answer to a problem and whether there is another calculation method. This enables pupils to become skilled in using and applying mathematical concepts. Rather than simply remembering the rules, they understand the principles behind the calculation. As a result, pupils make rapid progress and deepen their learning.
• Writing is taught very successfully. Teachers and teaching assistants take every opportunity to reinforce pupils’ literacy skills. English lessons grab pupils’ imagination and interest. Across all subjects, there is an emphasis on writing, including grammar and spelling. This enables pupils to develop an in-depth understanding of how to use their knowledge to produce high-quality writing. Pupils use their knowledge of the English language judiciously to write with an imagination and creativity that engages the reader.
• The teaching of reading is most effective. The school’s emphasis on developing pupils’ love of books is proving successful. Pupils read regularly at school and at home. High-quality phonics teaching gives pupils the skills to segment words and then blend the sounds together. As a result, pupils learn early on how to decode difficult or unfamiliar words. As they progress through the school they move successfully from sounding out words to recognising meaning from spellings, for example ‘piece’ and ‘peace’ or ‘there’, ‘their’ and ‘they’re’. By Year 6 pupils of all abilities, including the most and least able, are confident and fluent readers.
• Teachers and teaching assistants are skilled at identifying pupils’ misconceptions and intervening quickly to ensure that they understand. They ask pupils questions to tease out their understanding and develop their thinking. Where pupils need to consolidate their learning, the work is not simply repeated but approached in a different way. As a result, pupils are helped to understand. Teaching assistants intervene with pupils without being prompted by the class teacher so that no pupil is allowed to get behind with their learning.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils relish the challenges and opportunities the school provides and are just as committed as their teachers to be the best they can. This means that pupils are prepared very effectively for the challenges of secondary school.
• Pupils have many opportunities to take responsibility for running the school, from cleaning the fishponds to being on the school council or being in charge of the music for assembly. The range of responsibilities is part of the school’s commitment to ensuring that all pupils are able to achieve and become an ‘expert’. Pupils are enthusiastic about these roles and take them seriously. As a result, pupils not only grow in confidence but also develop their social and moral skills very effectively.
• There are few incidents of bullying or name-calling. Pupils noted that the school does not tolerate bullying and say that there is ‘no bullying’. However, they are confident that if there is any, it is dealt with quickly by their teachers.
• Pupils enjoy school a great deal. They are keen to talk about their experiences of school and listed a wide variety of things they enjoy, from interesting work in topic lessons to learning French and after-school clubs. Pupils noted that their teachers help them to learn and that they are given work that is ‘challenging’. They also have a clear understanding of life in modern Britain and can discuss British values knowledgeably. For example, one boy noted the British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance without prompting.
• Parents’ views about the school are extremely positive. They noted that the school is ‘a loving and nurturing place’ and a ‘home away from home’. Parents have great confidence in the school’s work to promote their children’s welfare and give them the best start in life.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct is excellent. They are polite, well mannered and behave exceptionally well during lessons and around the school at break and lunchtimes. Their positive attitudes to school and to their learning mean that there is little, if any, disruption to lessons. Pupils are enthusiastic about their work and highly motivated to do well.
• Pupils said that poor behaviour ‘is really really rare’ and are adamant that when it does happen, teachers ‘sort it out straight away.’ Pupils are thoughtful and reflective about their experiences of school and they have a well-developed sense of right and wrong.
• Pupils’ attendance is high. This is a clear indication of pupils’ enjoyment of learning and how much they want to come to school. There have been no exclusions over the past few years.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils’ academic progress and their personal development are treated with equal importance. Consequently, pupils make exceptional progress from their starting points to develop into mature, thoughtful young people by the time they leave school. For example, all pupils are valued for their achievements whether being responsible for the fishponds or excelling in mathematics.
• Pupils’ achievements in the 2016 tests at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 were high. In reading, writing and mathematics, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard was above the average for England. In addition, more pupils than in other schools achieved a high standard in the tests. Progress in all three subjects was in the top 10% of all schools in England.
• A significant feature of pupils’ achievements is that they all achieve highly regardless of their starting points. Disadvantaged pupils, including those who are most able, do at least as well as others nationally and often better. This is the result of the extremely effective use of the pupil premium funding and the support that pupils receive to help them catch up with their learning.
• Pupils of all abilities do well. The most able pupils, and middle and lower attainers, all make rapid progress during their time at the school. This is because teachers have an in-depth knowledge of each pupil’s learning and how to support their learning. It is also because of the well-devised systems for checking pupils’ progress and the way leaders thoroughly analyse the assessment information and work in books.
• Those pupils who speak English as an additional language make rapid progress. The strong focus on developing reading and writing skills, and the expert teaching of phonics, all make a strong contribution to pupils’ mastery of the English language.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make the same rapid progress as others. This is because of teachers’ understanding of their needs and the support they get from teaching assistants. In addition, the school’s culture, in which everyone is able to excel in something, builds pupils’ confidence and self-esteem.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children in Reception make a successful start to school and have a first-rate experience. Their starting points are in line with what is typical although there are variations from year to year and from pupil to pupil. However, teachers are skilled in assessing children’s skills and providing activities that meet their individual needs. As a result, there has been a consistent improvement in children’s outcomes over the past three years.
• Opportunities for children to talk about their work and develop their speaking skills are provided throughout the day. The use of phonics to develop children’s reading skills is strong so that they make good progress during Reception. As a result, they are prepared well for work in Year 1. The school’s emphasis on reading and writing is also evident in Reception. Children’s learning journals show clearly the progress children make with their writing skills.
• Children’s emotional and social skills are developed effectively. They are highly motivated and get involved in their learning without fuss. They are able to share the equipment well and work sensibly with others. This is because teachers place a great deal of emphasis on developing positive relationships and expecting the most from all children. As a result, children settle into the routines of the Reception class quickly.
• The culture for the early years is strong, giving children a stimulating and interesting environment in which to work. For example, children were encouraged to use a blackboard to begin to write numbers up to 10 while others were using the computer to develop their understanding of patterns. The school recognises that the outdoor environment is not as strong as it could be in supporting a wide range of activities.
• Parents are especially positive about the progress their children make in the Reception class. They value the way the adults help children to settle in quickly and the strong focus on individual needs. Parents note that children are happy and that there is a close partnership with the school. For example, parents help with identifying the next steps for their child’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101328 Barnet 10017705 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 Voluntary aided 5 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 208 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Mrs Ruth Taylor Mrs Louise Yarwood Telephone number 020 8449 6875 Website Email address www.trentceprimaryschool.co.uk head@trent.barnetmail.net Date of previous inspection 12–13 September 2011

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is smaller than the average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is a little higher than average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school meets the current government floor standards.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in each year group, including in the Reception class. Many of these observations were carried out jointly with school leaders.
• Pupils’ work in books across the range of subjects was looked at.
• Inspectors listened to pupils from Years 2 and 6 reading.
• Inspectors looked at behaviour at break and lunchtime.
• Discussions were held with senior leaders, governors, subject leaders, pupils and parents.
• A range of documentation and policies was scrutinised, including the school’s self-evaluation, records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance, assessment information and the minutes of the governing body.
• Inspectors scrutinised records relating to the quality of teaching, as well as the school’s website, including information about extra-curricular activities, trips and visits.
• Records, policies and procedures relating to safeguarding were reviewed.
• Inspectors took account of 127 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

Inspection team

Brian Oppenheim, lead inspector David Lloyd Hilary Ryan Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector