Norbury Manor Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve outcomes in other subjects so that they are as strong as those in English and mathematics by ensuring that:
  • middle leaders continue to receive training and development so that they have a greater impact on improving teaching, learning and assessment in their subjects
  • planning focuses on the development of skills as well as knowledge
  • the guidance teachers give is as helpful as it is in reading, writing and mathematics.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have worked diligently to make the improvements necessary to ensure that pupils at Norbury Manor get a good quality of education. The new headteacher has built on the work of her predecessor and created a dynamic, enthusiastic and effective team of senior leaders. Consequently, this is now a good and improving school with outstanding early years provision.
• Leaders are ambitious for the school and its community. This ambition has clearly rubbed off on pupils. One pupil told inspectors she wanted to be a doctor; she had a very clear vision of how to go about making her dream a reality and understood that learning was at the heart of it.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and have carefully evaluated what further improvements are needed. These are laid out in clear plans, which outline who will do what and by when. This well-organised planning has been a key part of the school’s success.
• Leaders provide good professional development opportunities, linked to the school’s key priorities. Staff receive the training they need to develop their skills. For example, the training staff received in implementing the new phonics scheme led directly to improved teaching of phonics and a significant rise in attainment.
• Staff at the early stages of their career say that they feel well supported. Staff get ample opportunity to discuss aspects of teaching and learning and to share ideas. This has empowered them to improve their own practice.
• Since the monitoring visit in 2015, the local authority has stepped up its support by providing training and consultants. The local authority now rates the school as good and has cut back the level of support accordingly.
• A comprehensive curriculum is in place. English and mathematics schemes of work have been revised to underpin pupils’ rapid progress. In the wider curriculum, topics are well planned, with themes often linked to key texts. This strategy ensures that pupils can practise their reading and writing skills across subjects. For example, Year 5 pupils study ‘War Boy’ during their topic on the Second World War and are able to write ‘in character’.
• Good links are made between different subjects. For example, in Year 1, pupils study a topic called ‘It’s good to be me’. The topic has links to a range of subjects and includes a scientific dimension (humans) and an artistic dimension (self-portraits based on the work of Picasso). Pupils have the opportunity to see subjects come alive, such as when dressing up to experience life in a Victorian school, or visiting the British Museum to see Egyptian artefacts up close. There is a good range of after-school clubs, which further enrich the curriculum.
• The school promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. The school’s values of resilience, empathy, scholarship, peace, excellence, community and thankfulness underpin school life. Pupils know what these mean and how to demonstrate them in their everyday lives.
• Pupils vote for school councillors and a head boy and head girl, which helps them understand the principles of democracy. These representatives ensure that pupils’ views are heard. For example, pupils had the final say in choosing the new catering company. The school celebrates the diversity of its community. This helps pupils understand and appreciate life in modern Britain.
• Leaders use the pupil premium funding to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make rapid progress. Leaders evaluate their use of the funding using a range of criteria. They can explain precisely the impact of a particular intervention on eligible pupils’ achievement. This careful scrutiny has seen outcomes improve for this group.
• The primary physical education and sports funding is used well. Leaders measure its impact carefully. For example, they know that participation rates in after-school clubs have increased.
• The special educational needs coordinator is effective in her role. She has overhauled policies and procedures and ensured that pupils’ needs are accurately identified and are known to staff. In this way, the funding is used well to match resources to need.
• Several newly appointed middle leaders are still developing their skills and have not yet had time to raise the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in their subjects. This is particularly the case for subjects such as geography and history where, as a consequence, pupils’ outcomes are not as strong as they are in English and mathematics.

Governance of the school

• Governance is good:
  • The governing body has improved its effectiveness by responding to recommendations and advice. It evaluates the impact of its work regularly and acts on any findings in order to be as effective as possible.
  • Minutes of governing body meetings confirm that governors provide the right level of support and challenge to ensure that leaders continue to improve the school.
  • Governors attend training to ensure that their skills remain up to date. For example, having completed effective training they are now adept at using data about pupils’ performance. This helps them know where leaders need to make further improvements.
  • Governors check that funding is spent wisely. For example, they challenge leaders to scrutinise closely the initiatives paid for by pupil premium funding; those that do not yield rapid progress are changed or scrapped. Governors know that this close attention to detail has resulted in strong outcomes for this group of pupils.
  • Governors have strong links to the local community and understand the context of the school and the families it serves. This means they are well placed to ensure that services meet pupils’ needs effectively. For example, governors supported the creation of a team of staff members whose work is having a positive impact on attendance figures.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Governors and senior leaders make sure that checks on staff are thorough and relevant paperwork is in place.
• Leaders have created a curriculum that provides opportunities to reinforce messages about how to stay safe. For example, computing lessons contain a strong focus on e- safety.
• Staff at all levels are confident about what constitutes a concern and how to report it. They receive regular training in how to spot possible signs of abuse and understand the need for vigilance. There is a culture where it is clear that safeguarding is everybody’s responsibility.
• Records show that leaders make timely referrals to external agencies, including social care, when a concern is raised. Leaders follow up these referrals so that they can be sure that the most vulnerable pupils are protected.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• There is a high level of consistency in how lessons are taught, which means pupils are confident with routines and expectations and respond well.
• The teaching of phonics is a particular strength. Teachers use a range of strategies that maintain pupils’ interest. Staff received comprehensive training so they all have a strong understanding of how the scheme works. Adults’ pronunciation is clear and precise. They show pupils explicitly how to position their mouths and tongues to make particular sounds. This leads to pupils making sounds accurately themselves.
• Teachers place a particular emphasis on developing vocabulary. They encourage pupils to look up exciting synonyms to make their work more appealing. There is a strong culture of discussing words and their exact meanings, which supports pupils to make the right choice for their own writing.
• Teachers take account of pupils’ prior work when planning lessons. For example, they read through pupils’ writing to identify common errors. These are then used as examples to prompt discussions about editing written work to make it the best it can be. This bespoke teaching leads to pupils making good progress.
• Teachers challenge and motivate pupils to try their hardest. Work in mathematics books shows that pupils have opportunities to solve problems and explain their thinking. This helps them make strong gains in their learning.
• In English and mathematics, teachers give pupils useful guidance on how to improve their work. Pupils take heed of this guidance, with clear impact on their progress. This is less effective in other subjects.
• Whereas planning in English and mathematics is comprehensive, in other subjects planning mainly covers the content to be taught. This gives insufficient emphasis to the development of skills. Pupils do not get to experience what it is to be a historian or a geographer in the same way they do an author or mathematician.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good
• Leaders ensure that pupils’ physical and emotional needs are well catered for. Pupils have many opportunities to develop a healthy lifestyle. These include activities at playtime, competitive sports, healthy meals with an attractively presented salad bar and active after-school clubs. Pupils’ emotional well-being is supported by strong relationships among pupils and between pupils and adults, and by well-trained staff and ‘learning mentors’.
• Pupils have positive attitudes to their work and take pride in their school. The school motto, ‘Learners today, leaders tomorrow; make every moment count’, inspires them to want to learn.
• Staff implement the school’s behaviour policy consistently well. They use the same prompts and reminders, for example to ‘sit like a star’, so pupils become familiar with expectations and routines. Pupils explain that there is a strong incentive to behave well because no one wants to have their name moved off ‘the rainbow’. Consequently, interruptions in lessons are rare.
• Pupils understand what bullying is. They say it has occurred in the past but seldom happens now. When it does, it stops once reported to staff because they deal with it well.
• Pupils say they feel safe in school. ‘This is a very safe environment’ was a typical comment. Leaders ensure that pupils are taught how to stay safe. Pupils are particularly knowledgeable about online safety. They are adamant ‘you should never give out your personal details’ or ‘arrange to meet anyone you don’t know’. Parents who spoke to inspectors or completed the school survey agreed that their children feel safe.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. They show good manners when walking around the school and greet visitors in a polite and welcoming way. They often hold doors open and offer their assistance.
• The well-enforced behaviour policy, alongside the school values, gives pupils a framework for behaving well.
• If pupils do misbehave, they are expected to reflect on their actions and the related consequences. Through discussions, they decide upon the best way to make amends. This means that issues are dealt with and no animosity remains. This restorative approach helps pupils learn how to manage their feelings better so that there is less chance of incidents recurring.
• There is a calm and harmonious atmosphere in the dinner hall. Pupils use their playtime productively, playing with their friends and enjoying the many activities on offer. There is a first aider on duty in the playground so any bumps and scrapes are dealt with quickly.
• The number of exclusions has been higher than average in the last two years. Leaders have looked at the reasons for this and put measures into place to support pupils with particular behavioural needs. These measures have already met with success and pupils who have been excluded are often able to integrate well back into school with no further incidents.
• Leaders work closely with families to ensure that they understand how important it is for their children to come to school regularly. There is a range of rewards and incentives for individuals and classes that attend well. This has led to improvements in attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Leaders have been successful in improving outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics in both key stages. In 2017, pupils’ attainment by the end of Year 2 rose to above average. Standards at the end of Year 6 had been well below average for a number of years. 2017 saw significant improvements so that the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in all three subjects was in line with national figures. This means a higher proportion of pupils now leaves Norbury Manor well prepared for the transfer to secondary school.
• There has been a strong improvement in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. This was well below average in 2016. The introduction of a new scheme and consistent teaching resulted in strong improvement to just below the national average in 2017. Current Year 1 pupils have benefited from these improvements for longer and the school’s assessments suggest that their results will be considerably higher in 2018. Inspection findings support this view.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. This is because teachers deploy resources, including teaching staff, judiciously to support their learning.
• Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are good. Leaders use the pupil premium funding for a range of interventions. The strong emphasis on vocabulary development in English and problem solving in mathematics supports this group to make good progress. The most able disadvantaged pupils do particularly well, making strong progress to reach the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Their achievement is at least on a par with other high attaining pupils nationally and sometimes better.
• The strong focus on vocabulary supports pupils who speak English as an additional language well. Those at an early stage of learning English make good progress because teachers give them additional resources to help them acquire key language skills quickly.
• The school’s own information about current pupils’ achievement shows that progress in reading, writing and mathematics is good. The work in pupils’ books so far this term confirms this. The pupils who inspectors listened to read had clearly made good progress from their starting points.
• Progress in other subjects, for example history, geography and science, is not as rapid. This is because the impact of leaders’ work to improve those subjects has not yet been as effective as it has in English and mathematics.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children make really strong progress from their starting points in all areas of learning across early years. This is because staff are closely attuned to their needs. This has resulted in a significant rise in the proportion of children reaching a good level of development and therefore being well prepared for Year 1.
• Leaders use the dedicated funding to ensure that disadvantaged children do well. Consequently, outcomes for this group are very strong. A high proportion makes rapid progress to reach a good level of development by the end of Reception. In 2017, all the children in this group reached at least the expected standard in all areas of learning.
• Both inside and outside space is used well. Staff offer children a range of exciting and stimulating activities that engage and interest them. These activities are designed to develop as many skills as possible. Even seemingly simple activities such as throwing objects into hoops develop more than physical skills. Inspectors saw children throwing numbered bean bags of different shapes, sizes and colours. Children were discussing these features and therefore developing language and mathematical concepts as well as perfecting their aim.
• Children begin to develop their reading and writing skills from the outset. Phonics is taught throughout the early years. Teachers use a range of approaches to make learning fun. Children are consequently highly engaged, join in wholeheartedly and make rapid progress in acquiring these vital skills.
• The early years staff work as an exceptionally cohesive and effective team. There is a high level of consistency in their practice and their expectations. This supports children to become familiar with routines and rise to those expectations. Children consequently behave well, listen to and follow instructions in a timely manner and therefore get the most out of their learning time.
• Children are particularly kind and generous for their age. They are happy to share. For example, they offered inspectors some of their playdough because they wanted them to be able to enjoy themselves too. Records of children’s achievements show this is typical behaviour.
• Leadership of early years is outstanding. A strong focus on developing staff’s skills has led to outstanding practice. Staff are highly skilled at supporting children to learn. They know when to intervene but also when to hold back and let children explore activities for themselves.
• Adults help children to learn how to manage risks sensibly. As a result, children use tools such as scissors safely. Children are also encouraged to push their own boundaries further, for example when using the climbing equipment. There are robust procedures in place for keeping children safe.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101785 Croydon 10036371 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 436 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Maggie Mansell Sonia Potter 0208 679 3835 www.norburymanorprimary.co.uk enquiries@nmp.croydon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 5 February 2015

Information about this school

• Norbury Manor is a larger than average-sized primary school.
• There has been some staff turnover since the previous inspection. The new headteacher has been in post since November 2016.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is higher than average.
• The school serves a diverse community, with the vast majority of pupils coming from minority ethnic backgrounds. The largest groups are those from Other White, Black African and Pakistani heritage.
• Nearly two thirds of pupils speak English as an additional language. This is three times the national average. Some of these pupils are in the very early stages of English acquisition.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is slightly below the national average.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in every year group. Many of these visits were conducted jointly with senior school leaders. Inspectors also looked closely at work in pupils’ books, records of children’s learning in the early years and other information about pupils’ attainment and progress.
• The inspection team scrutinised a range of documents, including the school’s reviews of its own performance, development plans, minutes of governing body meetings and documentation relating to safeguarding, attendance and behaviour.
• Inspectors listened to pupils in key stage 1 and key stage 2 read. They held discussions with groups of pupils as well as talking to pupils informally around the school.
• The inspection team met with staff, governors and a representative of the local authority.
• There were too few responses to the online survey Parent View to be considered, but inspectors took account of the five comments left using the free-text facility. Inspectors also spoke informally to parents at the start of the school day as well as views expressed in the most recent yearly school survey for parents.

Inspection team

Jeanie Jovanova, lead inspector Alison Moller Michelle Bennett Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector