Beulah Infants' School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of writing throughout the school by:
  • providing further opportunities for pupils to write on a wide range of topics
  • ensuring that pupils spell as accurately as possible.
• Make sure that the teaching provides as much challenge for the most able as possible.
• Increase pupils’ attendance.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Since taking the school into the Pegasus Trust, leaders have transformed the school. Parents who witnessed the changes told inspectors that the school is now a different place. Parents commented that the improved buildings and play areas have hugely improved pupils’ enjoyment of learning. Parents also said that adults now have a much stronger focus on improving their children’s learning. This is indeed the case, because pupils’ outcomes have risen year by year since the school opened. School information indicates that the improvement is set to continue.
• Leaders at all levels share a common ambition to do the best they can for their pupils. They are supported in this ambition by those responsible for governance who are equally passionate about improving the quality of education within the local community. Leaders draw on the strength of the trust to provide support for teachers and to establish highly effective ways of checking pupils’ progress. Such teamwork is an important factor in the school’s continuing journey of improvement.
• Leaders have improved the quality of teaching so that it is now consistently good. Following the school becoming an academy, leaders have kept a firm hand on the tiller through a period of staff changes. They have high expectations of staff and encourage them to develop their skills. Teachers new to the profession told inspectors that they are well trained and well supported.
• Leaders and those responsible for the governance of the school deploy wisely the government funding for disadvantaged pupils and for those with a range of additional needs. They check carefully to ensure that the funding goes on the right actions to promote the learning of these pupils. As a result, disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make rapid progress in their learning.
• Leaders make highly effectively use of the additional government funding for primary sports and physical education (PE). In order to ensure the sustainability of the funding, leaders make sure that all staff, including teaching assistants, are involved in identifying what makes a good PE lesson, and how PE teaching benefits pupils’ health. The funding has successfully attracted new participants to such activities as dance and gymnastics. Football coaches ensure that pupils learn good skills in the lunch breaks as well as in lessons.
• The curriculum is strongly based on promoting pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Subject leaders draw on the strength of the trust to plan a curriculum incorporating literacy and numeracy skills through a wide range of topics. For example, in a Year 2 class assembly attended by parents, pupils acted out the wide breadth of topics they had learned through the year and provided samples of the work they had produced as a result. Their recollections of Tudor dancing, watching ducklings hatch and building a chocolate factory show how effectively the school stimulates pupils’ imagination. In such ways, the school makes a highly successful contribution to promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• The curriculum contributes extremely effectively to pupils’ understanding of British values. Pupils value opportunities to vote for those who will represent their class on the school council. Pupils who spoke to inspectors were agreed that the school helps them to understand a wide range of faiths. In such ways, the school ensures that pupils respect those from all heritages and backgrounds.
• The curriculum ensures that pupils have a wealth of experiences beyond their own community that raise their aspirations. Trips and outings to places of interest are complemented by a rich programme of sporting, artistic and dance clubs.

Governance

• Governance is powerful. Academy directors and members of the academy council work in close and highly effective collaboration with leaders. This promotes rapid and sustained improvement in all aspects of the school’s work.
• Directors of the trust told inspectors that their motivation for setting up the trust was to promote school improvement within the local environment. Beulah clearly shows through effective improvements made since it opened that they have been successful in their mission.
• Directors provide highly effective support for the school by drawing on strengths within the trust to provide resources and support to leaders and staff. Their well-planned actions have led to the school’s improvement.
• Directors and members of the academy council know the school very well. They recognise its strengths. They acknowledge the areas in which more remains to be done before the school is outstanding.
• Leaders provide clear information to members of the council, particularly on pupils’ outcomes. A scrutiny of minutes of meetings shows that members have the information they need to ask searching questions of leaders and hold them to account.
• All those involved in the governance of the school are highly mindful of their obligation to keep pupils safe. They undertake rigorous training and make sure that all adults are also trained and able to keep pupils safe.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school promotes an extremely safe culture. When visitors enter the school, they are given all the information they need to identify which members of staff are responsible for safeguarding and how to report concerns. The school’s website also provides this information.
• The backgrounds of all those who work with pupils or come into contact with the pupils are rigorously checked.
• The school works in close partnership with the local authority and with other external agencies to ensure that pupils are safe and that any concerns are quickly resolved.
• The school carries out extensive risk assessments before any activity is undertaken. This ensures that adults are prepared for anything that might go wrong.
• Leaders make sure that staff training in safeguarding is up to date. Weekly meetings keep staff updated on all safeguarding issues. New staff receive prompt induction, so that all adults know what to do if a concern arises.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teaching is consistently of good quality. This enables pupils throughout the school to learn well. All adults involved in helping pupils to learn work closely together. Their dedication helps pupils to make rapid progress.
• Teaching is well planned. Pupils know from the start of an activity what they will be learning. Once the task has been completed, pupils have the chance to reflect on what they have learned.
• Teachers’ questioning enables pupils to learn well. Teachers are ready to probe pupils’ knowledge further, and to encourage them to think more deeply about topics. For instance, in one Year 2 mathematics session, pupils were asked how many sides there were in a group of square shapes they had been given. They were then further challenged to find out how many sides there were in a group of triangles.
• Adults promote reading particularly well. High-quality phonics teaching from an early age gives pupils the confidence to begin to read and to develop fluency quickly. Pupils who read aloud to inspectors were able to use their phonics skills successfully. They talked about the many ways the school encourages them to read.
• Teachers promote reading well in the choice of books they set for pupils. Teachers give pupils challenging and worthwhile books to read. Teachers use the texts to stimulate pupils’ imagination. For example, pupils built a model of an iron man after reading Ted Hughes’ novel of the same name.
• Teachers display secure subject knowledge. They introduce pupils to a wealth of exciting topics. For example, in a relatively short space of time, pupils were learning about African djembe drums, how to use computers and how to assemble vegetables to form human faces in the style of the early Italian painter, Arcimboldo. The imaginative curriculum promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development extremely well.
• Teaching is successful in raising the achievement of most groups of pupils. Occasionally, however, the most able pupils are not given all the challenge they need to forge ahead at their own pace.
• Adults have improved pupils’ writing over time. However, leaders acknowledge that pupils’ skills in writing are not as high as those in reading and mathematics. The school is working hard to encourage pupils to write as much as possible to develop their skills. However, adults do not always use the full breadth of the curriculum to encourage writing, particularly in topics such as history, geography and art.
• Adults make sure, both orally and in writing, that pupils know how to improve their work. This particularly helps them improve their reading skills and their mathematics calculations. Strategies to encourage pupils to spell consistently well are less well promoted, so that pupils sometimes continue to repeat spelling mistakes.

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 confident, polite and curious about visitors. This shows that the school encourages pupils to have inquiring minds.
• Pupils are happy at school and enjoy their learning. They like their teachers. Pupils report that they know which adults to approach if they have any worries.
• Pupils who spoke to inspectors said that the school teaches them how to keep themselves safe when out and about. For example, pupils understand the potential risks in talking to strangers or in using computers without supervision.
• The breakfast club and after-school care provision give pupils healthy food to eat and worthwhile activities. Pupils have good opportunities to meet and enjoy the company of pupils of different ages, including those from the junior school that shares the site. Those who run the clubs undertake daily risk assessments. They ensure that the setting is safe and well supervised.
• Pupils told inspectors that the school keeps them safe and that they are not scared of other pupils. Pupils said that occasionally a few pupils can be unkind to them, for example by calling them names. Inspectors explored their concerns with school leaders and looked at school records of behaviour. Inspectors took into account that parents had not raised concerns of this kind with them during the inspection. Similarly parents had not raised concerns in the recent school survey of their views. Leaders are quick to act on the few occasions when pupils are less than kind to one another. Nevertheless, inspectors found that such incidents are not always dealt with effectively enough. This is why pupils’ welfare is judged to be good but not outstanding.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils get on well together. In this richly diverse and close-knit community, pupils respect those of all faiths and heritages. The curriculum, with its focus on diversity, promotes pupils’ understanding and tolerance of those from all backgrounds very well.
• Pupils value their learning and rarely disrupt the learning of others. They keep their classrooms tidy. Pupils are considerate when moving about the school. In assembly they enter the hall respectfully, and listen carefully to what fellow pupils say and do.
• In the classroom, pupils move quietly and purposefully from task to task. Pupils take pride in their work and are ready to talk to visitors about what they have been learning.
• Leaders have put a great deal of effort into raising pupils’ overall attendance. They have been rewarded by some success. Attendance is approaching average levels for the first time since the school opened. However, attendance remains below average, and some pupils miss more school than they should. As a result, these pupils do not make as much progress as they could.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Determined and focused actions by leaders have resulted in a rising trend in pupils’ outcomes. School information shows that pupils throughout the school are making rapid progress, particularly in reading and mathematics.
• In each year since the school opened, the proportion of children leaving the Reception Year with a good level of development has risen. School information indicates that this rise is continuing.
• Leaders reacted quickly to a drop in Year 1 phonics scores in 2016. They identified the causes. They acted swiftly and successfully to improve the quality of phonics teaching. Their actions have resulted in a high success rate, both in the Year 1 and Year 2 phonics screening checks, with almost all pupils meeting expected standards.
• The school checks carefully how groups of pupils perform and reports the findings to those responsible for governance. All adults work together effectively to provide helpful support where needed. The effectiveness of the support is rigorously monitored to ensure that it provides what pupils need. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from strong additional support and make strong progress in their learning.
• The school deploys its additional funding for the pupil premium wisely. Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils have risen since the school opened and now match those of other pupils nationally and within the school.
• The most able pupils make adequate but not rapid progress in their learning. Adults do not always plan effectively enough for the needs of these pupils to enable them to make all the progress of which they are capable.
• Pupils are prepared well for the next stage of schooling. The attainment of Year 2 pupils at the end of key stage 1 has shown a rising trend, particularly in reading and mathematics. Inspectors looked at pupils’ writing throughout the school and confirmed the school’s view that the improvement in writing is a little less rapid than in other subjects.

Early years provision Good

• The early years provision is well led. Leaders keep a close watch on how the children are learning. Leaders provide support and additional training for the adults where necessary.
• Leaders make sure that the early years pupil premium is deployed effectively to provide additional resources and support for disadvantaged children. As a result, these children make good progress and achieve well.
• Adults work together to plan effectively for the different needs of children in the early years. Adults work in effective partnership with external agencies to provide well for children identified as needing additional support. This support enables these children to make good progress in acquiring skills.
• The quality of teaching is effective in enabling children to learn a wide range of language, number and social skills. Adults take every opportunity to talk to children and to encourage them to talk as much as possible. This helps children to build strong communication skills.
• Children are provided with a wide range of tasks designed to stimulate their curiosity and creativity. There are plenty of chances for children to grow plants, to explore tiny creatures that live in the grounds and to make artistic objects. In one music lesson, Reception children concentrated hard on playing percussion instruments to build an understanding of rhythm and pulse. Such opportunities contribute well to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
• Children behave well in the safe, nurturing environment of the Nursery and Reception classes. Children are ready to cooperate, for example by working as a group to assemble a tricky jigsaw.
• Parents are welcomed into the early years provision. The school engages well with them. A typical comment from one parent was ‘The staff keep the children safe and openly encourage parents to see inside the classroom.’ Inspectors confirm that children’s progress is shared with parents and that communication between school and home is strong.
• The school prepares children well for moving into Year 1. Children acquire good habits of learning. They develop good language and number skills that they can build on in future years. Inspectors watched the children learning and looked at their writing books. Their observations indicated that the most able children do not routinely make the most rapid progress they could.

School details

Unique reference number 141120 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 10031681 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Infant School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 3 7 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 278 Appropriate authority Academy trust Chair Richard Hill (chair of the board of directors), Fiona Fearon (chair of the academy council) Headteacher Lynne Sampson (executive headteacher), Jolyon Roberts (executive headteacher), Debbie Butler (head of school) Telephone number 020 8653 4918 Website www.pegasusacademytrust.org Email address binfadmin@pegasusacademytrust.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Beulah is larger than average for a primary school.
• The school is a sponsor-led academy. In September 2014 it joined the Pegasus Trust, a group of local primary schools that also manages a maintained nursery school. Following an Ofsted inspection in 2014, prior to its becoming part of the trust, the school underwent considerable changes in staffing. The current head of school has been in post since January 2016.
• The trust is led by the board of academy directors. The school is governed by members of the academy council.
• The executive headteachers are both local leaders of education.
• There is no provision for two-year-olds. Children in the Nursery class attend for either five mornings or five afternoons. Reception children attend full time.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is higher than average.
• Most pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic heritages.
• The school runs the breakfast club and after-school care provision.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited classes throughout the school and observed pupils’ learning in a range of subjects. Senior leaders joined inspectors on most of their classroom visits.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of pupils, listened to them read and looked at samples of their work. Inspectors talked to pupils in lessons, at play and in the lunch hall. Inspectors met two groups of Year 2 pupils to hear how they felt about the school. There were no responses to the Ofsted online survey of pupils’ views.
• Meetings were held with leaders, including those who hold responsibility for specific subjects.
• An inspector held an interview with two directors of the trust, including the chair of the board of directors.
• An inspector held a meeting with the vice-chair of the academy council and with the chair of the academy directors in his role as member of the academy council.
• Three members of the academy council attended the final feedback meeting, including the chair and vice-chair.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of parents during the inspection. They considered the school’s own survey of the views of 118 parents. There were seven responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including five comments. Inspectors took all these responses and comments into consideration.
• There were no responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire for members of staff. An inspector met a group of teachers new to the profession.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents. These included minutes of meetings of the academy council and documents relating to the school’s evaluation of its performance.
• Inspectors considered a range of evidence on pupils’ attainment and progress. They also examined safeguarding information and records relating to attendance, behaviour and welfare.

Inspection team

Natalia Power, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Rajeshree Mehta Ofsted Inspector Samuel Nowak Ofsted Inspector