St Michael's East Wickham Church of England Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that monitoring and evaluation of teaching is carried out more effectively and actions for improvement are clearly addressed, making sure that teaching is consistently good or better across key stage 2
  • providing further opportunities to strengthen leadership capacity across the school by enabling middle leaders to have greater opportunities to monitor and evaluate in their focus areas
  • ensuring that the good teaching practice that exists at the school and across the trust is shared with all teachers.
• Improve teaching and learning across key stage 2 so that pupils achieve as well as they can by ensuring that:
  • teachers use assessment information to make sure that activities sufficiently challenge all pupils and can be adapted to meet their individual learning needs
• Improve pupils’ progress across key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics so that they achieve in line with national expected standards.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The way the senior leadership team monitors and evaluates teaching has not led to rapid enough improvement in the past. Following low key stage 2 outcomes in 2018, leaders and trustees are now taking more effective steps to improve teaching and secure progress across this age range.
• Monitoring and evaluation is not yet rigorous enough, both within school and from the trust. Consequently, some aspects of the school’s evaluation are over-generous. The trust’s improvement partners identify actions for planned improvement, but they are not suitably specific in supporting senior leaders on how improvements need to be made. For example, actions include ‘for school leaders to support staff so that the level of consistency around the school continues to develop’.
• Mathematics, literacy and assessment leaders have benefited from good training from the trust. They demonstrate secure knowledge in their focus areas and a commitment to improving outcomes for pupils. However, middle leaders have few opportunities to build on this training to monitor and evaluate in lessons, so they can support, challenge and coach staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning further.
• At the start of the academic year, leaders introduced a mathematics mastery programme to address historical gaps in pupils’ learning. This has raised the profile of mathematics across the school, but it is too early to see the impact of this initiative on the end of key stage 2 outcomes.
• At the same time, leaders introduced a range of actions to improve pupils’ literacy skills, with a strong focus on developing vocabulary and improving pupils’ reading comprehension skills. This is supporting teachers well in helping pupils to identify the different types of questions to use when undertaking reading comprehension activities. However, this work is still in its infancy. More time is needed to enable current pupils to address historical gaps in their learning, and apply their better understanding of grammar, punctuation and spelling, from their reading studies, to their writing.
• Leaders have used the primary sports funding successfully to promote pupils’ engagement in sporting activities during the lunch break and participation in a range of sports tournaments. Funding is also used to increase the confidence of teachers to deliver aspects of physical education through a coaching programme for gymnastics.
• Leaders were proactive in commissioning a pupil premium review. Additional funding is used to provide considered support for the very few disadvantaged pupils at the school. This additional funding is beginning to have an impact. In 2018, at the end of key stage 2, gaps in pupils’ progress narrowed between disadvantaged pupils and other non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted well throughout the school’s broad curriculum and trips. Careful consideration is given to plan opportunities which enhance pupils’ awareness of other cultures, as well as providing opportunities for preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain. Pupils appreciate the range of opportunities to lead and contribute to their school community, for example as school councillor, librarian or from organising and fundraising for charities and those in need.

Governance of the school

• Trustees are steadfast in their desire to support and challenge the school. They are aware that prior to joining the trust, end of key stage 2 outcomes had declined following a lengthy period when systems and processes had not been rigorously monitored.
• Trustees are dedicated to procuring both educational and operation support for leaders, including the local governing body. The trust implemented a range of support from the academy’s executive leaders, a diocesan school improvement partner and an interim headteacher consultant, immediately after the school opened in September 2017. This leadership support, along with good administrative support, and training and development, have had some positive impact on the school community.
• However, this support and the school’s planned strategies have not improved teaching or pupils’ achievement quickly enough in the past. Trustees have relied on leaders’ generous evaluation to rate the school’s performance. Following disappointing end of key stage 2 outcomes, trustees are taking further action to support the school’s key priority in ‘improving the attainment and progress of all pupils across the school’. This term sees the setting up of an action group to scrutinise standards and the impact of initiatives.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Trustees, governors and leaders are clear about their statutory safeguarding responsibilities. Checks on the suitability of staff to work at the school are in line with current guidelines.
• Recent training and updates ensure that all staff are aware of any potential risks and are fully up to date with current legislation, including the school’s response to the ‘Prevent’ duty, county lines, child sexual exploitation and female genital mutilation. Clear systems are in place to keep pupils safe, and staff understand the process for sharing information.
• The school works well with parents and carers to create a strong culture of safeguarding, for example providing good guidance and information on online safety. Most parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, agree with the statement that their child feels safe at the school.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Despite some good teaching practices seen, the quality of teaching is not always good enough across the junior classes and requires improvement to be consistently good or better.
• Pupils’ books show unaddressed inconsistencies in the application of the school’s marking and feedback policy.
• Where teaching is less than good, teachers do not consistently provide learning that is matched to pupils’ needs. For example, in these lessons, teachers do not adapt their plans to meet pupils’ needs, or reshape tasks and explanations during lessons to help pupils’ understanding. Consequently, expectations of what some pupils can achieve are not high enough, which weakens their progress, or activities are too hard for the less able, which limits their full engagement.
• Teachers do not always explain clearly what they expect pupils to be able to do or achieve by the end of an activity. Consequently, learning slows as pupils are not focused on the key tasks that will support their learning. For example, where teaching is less effective, thinking time in lessons is not significantly leading to improvement as pupils are unclear of how to improve and what needs to be achieved. Time is wasted on cutting or sticking worksheets into books at the expense of engaging in their learning or practising key skills.
• Some tasks set within mathematics and the wider curriculum limit opportunities for pupils to deepen their knowledge, understanding and skills. For example, the many worksheets reduce the opportunity for pupils to consider how best to present their written information or data, or in practising using compasses, rulers and other mathematical equipment when drawing tables or graphs. The format of the worksheets can limit pupils’ opportunities, particularly the most able, to develop their ideas further.
• However, teachers are using the recent training in mathematics to implement planned opportunities for practising fluency, reasoning and problem-solving. New resources have been purchased which are closely linked to ages and stages of the national curriculum. These are supporting teachers in ensuring greater coverage of the mathematics curriculum. However, it is too soon to gauge the full impact of this recent initiative on planning more appropriately pitched learning opportunities. Learning in pupils’ mathematics books highlights planned opportunities to solve word problems of increasing length and complexity, but fewer opportunities for focusing on improving mathematical reasoning.
• Recent initiatives to improve reading across the school are having a clearer impact. Pupils talk readily about the new books studied in class, the recently introduced trips to the local library, and their enjoyment of reading. Teachers are using their training to choose interesting texts on which to plan literacy lessons that engage pupils’ interests. These carefully chosen texts are providing pupils with increased opportunities to develop their understanding across a wider range of literature and is helping pupils to broaden their vocabulary and improve their writing. However, at key stage 2, inconsistencies remain in the teaching of grammar, punctuation and spelling and its application to support pupils in writing for different purposes.
• The teaching across key stage 1 is good. Here teachers use their understanding of pupils’ starting points and plan learning better matched to pupils’ needs. Teachers demonstrate a stronger awareness of the next steps in pupils’ learning, clarifying clearly how pupils can improve and what needs to be done.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Pupils across the school are encouraged to be active members of their community. Older pupils have many opportunities to act as role models to others, for example Year 6 pupils taking careful hold of the youngest children’s hands and chatting and walking with them to the local church. Older pupils are extremely attentive and listen very carefully to their younger peers, who in turn show genuine joy on their arrival to class.
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe when out on trips and how to cross roads safely. Pupils know what constitutes inappropriate behaviour towards others, which includes all forms of bullying. They are taught how to keep themselves safe when using the internet.
• Two members of staff have undertaken training as youth mental health first aiders. They lead on the school’s well-being and personal, social and health education programmes, which support pupils’ good understanding of how to keep healthy, interact positively with others and live in the wider world. Pupils spoken to say that they feel safe, are happy and enjoy their time at the school.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. They are polite and welcoming to visitors. They work hard in lessons, sharing resources particularly well. Pupils are considerate of the views of others and listen with interest.
• The school site is well maintained, and graffiti and litter-free. Pupils make a point of packing equipment away at the end of lessons and when they leave classes, demonstrating their pride in the school.
• Attendance is above the national average and rates for persistent absence are well below the national, reflecting pupils’ positive attitude towards schooling. The school works well with agencies and families to ensure that pupils who are unable to attend because of medical needs are well supported, ensuring that no groups of pupils are affected negatively by low attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Outcomes require improvement because most pupils across key stage 2 do not make consistently strong progress across the curriculum, especially in mathematics and literacy.
• Pupils have fallen behind in the past and teaching over time has not been good enough to ensure that they catch up quickly in all areas. Leaders are aware that inconsistencies in the quality of teaching in the past, across year groups and subjects, have contributed to the low outcomes in key stage 2.
• Work in pupils’ books shows that although most pupils are making progress, they still do not make the consistently good or better progress required in all areas to catch up.
• The school’s own performance information shows some recent improvement, but book scrutiny during the inspection indicated some inconsistencies in the accuracy of assessments.
• At the end of key stage 2 pupils’ progress in reading and mathematics remained significantly below the national. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard was below the national average in reading, grammar, punctuation and spelling, and mathematics.
• Pupils make good progress across key stage 1. The proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard at the end of Year 2 was above the national average for reading, writing and mathematics. The proportion of pupils exceeding the expected standard in these subjects was below national averages.
• From Reception, through to key stage 1, phonics is taught systematically, and pupils learn to enjoy reading and listening to stories. Consequently, the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 is securely above the national average.

Early years provision Good

• The provision in the early years is a strength of the school. The new early years leader joined the school in September. This experienced leader is contributing to the effective provision already established. The early years leader knows what works well and what needs to be improved and has made sure that all safeguarding requirements are met.
• Children enter Reception with skills typical for their age and make good progress. As a result, children are well prepared for Year 1. In 2018, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year was above the national average.
• The reception classroom is well organised, bright and welcoming. Learning is exciting and engaging, with opportunities both indoors and outdoors to challenge children’s thinking across all seven areas of learning. Children get off to a strong start with early reading, writing and mathematics.
• The teaching of phonics is particularly good. Staff give children a wide range of opportunities to develop their understanding of letters and sounds. This good teaching of phonics is contributing to the strong progress seen in children’s writing books. From writing simple words at the start of the year, children are now confidently writing simple sentences, using phonetically plausible words, to share their thoughts and ideas.
• Topic folders, mathematics books and writing books show tasks are well matched to children’s starting points. Accurate tracking of children’s learning helps staff in planning learning activities that are appropriate to each child’s stage of development and interests.
• Staff track what children can and cannot do and the early years leader’s weekly planning is adapted to ensure that they begin to fill the gaps successfully. Informative planning for the week is displayed thoughtfully on the wall so that everyone can see what learning opportunities or basic skills are being developed and for whom.
• Training opportunities, both locally and from within the trust, along with moderation with other settings, is supporting staff in assessing children’s progress accurately through observations and discussions about their learning.
• Good links are made with the local nursery and other settings on transition into the Reception classes. Parents and carers are also invited to an open evening at the start of term and to summer ‘stay and play’ sessions prior to joining the school. However, leaders are aware that more effective use of the school’s newly introduced electronic logs of children’s learning, and opportunities for parents to contribute to these, would support further, greater accuracy in what current children in the early years can do.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 144889 Bexley 10086817 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 Academy converter Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 207 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher Mrs Nicola Bubb Miss Tracy Payne Telephone number 020 8303 3287 Website Email address www.stmichaels-eastwickham-ce-school.co.uk admin@st-michaels.bexley.sch.uk Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• St Michael’s East Wickham Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School converted to become an academy on 1 September 2017. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be outstanding overall.
• Many of the teaching staff from the predecessor school transferred directly across into the new academy. In the Spring term, prior to opening, the assistant headteacher of the predecessor school was appointed as the current headteacher. Shortly after, two long-standing teachers were appointed as joint assistant headteachers. All current class teachers, except for the early years leader, were employed from the predecessor school.
• St Michael’s East Wickham Church of England Primary School is an average-sized primary school with one class in each year group across key stages 1 and 2. One Reception class makes up the early years. The school is part of the Southwark Diocesan Board of Education Multi-Academy Trust.
• The Southwark Diocesan Board of Education (SDBE) Multi-Academy Trust, in operation since September 2016, is a trust comprising one secondary and nine primary schools. The three members act as custodians, while the board of trustees collectively oversees the management and administration of the trust as a whole, delegating authority and responsibility to the strategic advisory board (local governing bodies) as specified in the trusts scheme of delegation. The chair referred to above is the chair of the local governing body.
• The school benefits from both education and operational support received from within the multi-academy trust, and from support brokered by the trust through the diocese’s school improvement service.
• Most pupils are from a White British background.
• Very few pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, and the proportion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is below average.
• The school provides an Anglican education for pupils between three to 11 years of age. This Anglican education provision was judged ‘good’ at the school’s most recent section 48 inspection, which took place in February 2019.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classes to observe teaching and learning, many visits were undertaken jointly with school leaders. Inspectors spent time looking through pupils’ books and at the school’s current assessment information, to consider how well pupils learn and achieve overtime.
• Inspectors met with a trustee. A separate meeting was held with an executive leader (the chief operating officer) and the trust’s education partner. Inspectors also met with five members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. A phone discussion took place with a representative from the diocese.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils to discuss their learning and their views on the school. Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour around the school, including at playtimes and during the lunch break. They heard pupils read.
• Inspectors met with senior leaders to review the impact of their work, as well as middle leaders who are responsible for the leadership of English and mathematics and the early years and the special educational needs coordinator. Inspectors also met with a group of staff from across the school.
• Inspectors examined a range of school documents, including leaders’ own evaluation of the school’s effectiveness. Inspectors also considered a range of reports, policies and documents on the school’s and the trust’s website, including the trust’s scheme of delegation for the school.
• Inspectors met with the headteacher and with a member of staff who oversees the single central record of checks on staff.
• Inspectors gathered the views of parents through informal discussions in the playground at the start of the day. Inspectors also considered the 56 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

Inspection team

Jean Thwaites, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Rosemary Keen Ofsted Inspector