Fielding Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that most-able pupils, including most-able disadvantaged pupils, are able to take on the right level of challenge as soon as they are ready.
• Implement the proposed developments to the early years outdoor area to provide children with even more learning opportunities.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher and deputy headteacher, together with the governing body, set a fine example of inspirational and ambitious leadership that has created the collective responsibility and drive for excellence across the school. All staff have high expectations of each other and themselves to enable pupils to achieve their best.
• Leaders have embedded thoroughly the school’s systems. Whether tracking of pupils’ progress, monitoring of the effectiveness of interventions, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, or behaviour, leaders’ effective and accurate evaluations mean that improvements are made rapidly when needed.
• Leaders make certain that the quality of teaching is outstanding. All staff receive high- quality continuing professional development. Leaders provide a wide range of training, which is tailored to be effective in addressing both the key areas for improvement for the school as well as the needs of individual teachers to develop their practice further.
• Newly qualified teachers are well supported so that they grow in confidence quickly. More experienced teachers receive leadership development to support their career aspirations. Teachers demonstrate a drive for continued further improvement. Their openness to share good practice and help each other, means that students who train at the school often return to take up teaching posts.
• Senior leaders make sure that subject and year leaders develop their leadership skills well. Middle leaders have a clear and accurate understanding of the school’s priorities. They draw on their training and close teamwork with senior leaders to ensure that their work has a positive impact on both the performance of teachers as well as outcomes for pupils.
• Teachers’ performance management targets are ambitious and related appropriately to the school’s priorities for continued improvement.
• Leaders plan and review the curriculum carefully so pupils are able to develop their reading, writing and mathematical skills while acquiring knowledge and understanding across a wide range of subjects.
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural education is at the heart of the school’s work, ensuring that pupils learn about faiths and cultures other than their own and gain skills and knowledge that enable them to be well prepared for life in modern Britain. The enriched curriculum provides a range of remarkable experiences and exceptional tuition for pupils, for example in modern foreign languages, music and physical education, delivered by specialists. All pupils have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and go on trips to enrich their learning. The school’s ‘WOW’ moments are one example of the school’s commitment to providing pupils with inspirational and awe-inspiring events, such as a whole year group camping on the school field or another visiting ‘a night at the museum’. Staff work hard to ensure that pupils have equal opportunities to take part so no one misses out.
• Leaders review the impact of the physical education and sports premium carefully to ensure that it is spent wisely. As a result of investments made, the quality of teaching of physical education has improved. Pupils are able to participate in a wide range of after-school sports clubs, catering for all tastes, and take part in increasing numbers of sports competitions.
• Leaders, including in the early years, establish strong links with parents to keep them well informed about their child’s experience of school. School staff run helpful workshops and drop-in sessions to convey information about how different subjects are taught in lessons so that parents feel more confident to help their child at home.
• The collective responsibility of leaders and all staff to ensure that pupils fulfil their potential is exemplified by the school’s work to use additional funding effectively to support pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and disadvantaged pupils. Leaders, including those who oversee special educational needs, use comprehensive tracking systems to inform regular review meetings and identify exactly what individual pupils need to support their engagement with their learning. Leaders oversee highly efficient communications with all those who can make a positive difference to pupils’ experience of school, including staff, parents and outside agencies. The clarity of communication ensures a joined-up and personalised approach to enabling pupils to overcome any difficulties and to make better progress.

Governance of the school

• The governing body represents a productive combination of longer-term experience of the school and newer members. They present a range of relevant skills and knowledge to enable them to fulfil their roles and responsibilities.
• Governors are well led, so that while each governor links with a key priority area for the school, all governors are kept informed of all aspects of school life. As a result, they are keenly and accurately aware of the key areas of strength and the priorities for further development across the school. Their ambition is reflected in their rigorous review and evaluation of the impact of actions taken by school leaders, with their clear expectations that improvements are made swiftly when needed.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders ensure that all statutory requirements are in place, including training for all staff, and that all necessary checks are made when recruiting staff.
• Leaders go to great efforts to ensure that staff not only receive statutory training, but also receive additional information and guidance on risks to specific groups of pupils. Leaders make sure that staff are able to draw on their training effectively and are alert to any signs that a pupil may be at risk, for example of female genital mutilation, or extremism. Well-organised systems, efficient communications and meticulous record keeping mean that leaders follow up concerns promptly, working with outside agencies when needed.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Throughout the school, teachers nurture pupils’ positive attitudes towards their learning. There are well-established routines in lessons for pupils to reflect on and apply their learning and recognise when they make progress by improving their work.
• Teachers promote a calm and diligent atmosphere in lessons, starting some with ‘brain break’ when pupils sit quietly and focus as they are about to embark on their learning. Pupils are responsive to their teachers’ high expectations, are respectful and engage readily in conversations about their learning, share ideas and support each other.
• Teachers demonstrate a firm commitment and determination that their pupils will achieve well. Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to stimulate pupils’ interests and motivate them with well-considered questions to check pupils’ understanding and deepen their thinking. Teachers provide clear explanations and examples of what pupils need to do, so that pupils are able to get started promptly and industriously.
• Teachers use time productively in lessons, providing pupils with opportunities to develop their reading, writing and mathematical skills across different subjects. Leaders stipulate that pupils have frequent opportunities to complete pieces of extended writing. This improves the quality of pupils’ writing, and their use of technical and more complex vocabulary develops well.
• Teaching assistants work collaboratively with teachers so that pupils are targeted appropriately to receive the help they need to make rapid progress and to catch up with others.
• Teachers’ assessment of pupils’ work is of a consistently high standard across different year groups. Both orally and in writing, teachers guide pupils’ learning effectively, routinely judging accurately the specific actions pupils need to take to make the progress of which they are capable.
• Appropriate levels of challenge are incorporated routinely into lessons for all pupils. Occasionally, pupils become slightly less attentive in lessons when they are ready to move on to a more complex task sooner.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• The schools’ support for vulnerable children is exemplary. Every disadvantaged pupil has a member of staff as their mentor, who, alongside teachers and family support workers, keeps a close and caring eye on the pupils. They are quick to spot when a pupil needs extra help to make a success of their time in school and this is appropriately provided. Pupils have improved their behaviour, attendance and academic achievement because of the help their mentors and other members of staff have given them.
• The ‘pupil passport’ documents the key areas in which pupils need support and identifies the most productive ways in which pupil premium funding can be invested for individual pupils.
• A wide range of extra-curricular activities provides valuable opportunities for all pupils to have experiences that might not otherwise be open to them. Pupils’ studies underpin the school’s values, which, in turn, reflect British values such as respect, honesty and freedom.
• Pupils appreciate that school leaders take their views into account in regular ‘parliament assemblies’ when they have the chance to talk about ways in which they would make the school even better, for example resulting in improvements to playground facilities.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ confidence develops rapidly across the school, both in lessons and in their social interactions with each other and adults in the school. Pupils are articulate and proud to talk about the school and their achievements. Pupils can think of little they would do to improve the school, with one pupil stating, ‘this school is as close to perfect as you are going to get.’
• Pupils’ attendance at school is consistently above average. Leaders’ comprehensive systems identify and follow up promptly those pupils who are absent more than they should be, so that the incidence of persistent absence has declined substantially.
• Pupils interact positively in lessons and around the school. Pupils demonstrate a strong sense of personal responsibility, with older pupils keen to support younger ones with their work and help supervise them at breaktime.
• Pupils are very clear on the ways in which the school keeps them safe and secure. Pupils have a variety of opportunities, including in lessons, hearing from visiting speakers such as the police, and through special events like workshops, to learn about keeping safe, including when working online. They understand the different forms that bullying can take and say that, as also indicated by the school’s records, serious incidents of poor behaviour are rare. The large majority of parents and all staff who responded to surveys for this inspection agree that the behaviour of pupils is well managed in the school.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Consistency of excellent practice ensures that pupils over time make significantly better-than-average progress in all subjects.
• Leaders’ careful tracking of pupils’ progress means that when pupils are falling behind this is picked up quickly so that they catch up. The school is mindful of the individual needs and circumstances of the small proportion of disadvantaged pupils, and also pupils who have special educational need and/or disabilities. The school’s achievement information and pupils’ work in their books shows that, through well-considered interventions and support, these pupils often make better-than-average progress from their different starting points.
• Pupils across the school attain at least the expected standards for their age in a wide range of subjects.
• The proportion of pupils who achieve the expected standard in phonics by the end of Year 1 has steadily increased over recent years and is above average.
• Leaders have introduced a range of successful initiatives to promote pupils’ enjoyment of reading. Pupils routinely read in lessons and at home. They appreciate the attractive and thoughtfully furnished library areas, with mini armchairs and cushions, where many choose to read at breaktimes.
• Pupils are well prepared for the next stages in their education. Consistency in routines in the early years ensures that children adapt well to expectations in Year 1. Year 6 pupils receive helpful information about secondary schools so that they feel confident making decisions about their future.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The early years buzzes with industry and enjoyment. Children’s excellent relationships with each other and the adults who support them enhance their positive attitudes to their learning. Children are keen to learn and are thrilled to talk about their achievements. Strong leadership ensures that high standards are maintained in all aspects of the early years.
• High-quality teaching ensures that children make consistently high rates of progress across the early years from their different starting points. The proportion of children who achieve a good level of development is consistently above average.
• Adults use the assessment systems effectively and consistently to identify those who need additional support or challenge to make the progress of which they are capable. Adults recognise swiftly the specific ways in which children are at risk of falling behind, and provide them with the help they need to keep up with others.
• Children’s work in the nursery and reception classes demonstrates that they achieve well in a wide range of subjects, focusing on their literacy and numeracy skills, and also increasing their knowledge of the world and expressive art and design.
• Children are extremely motivated and enthusiastic because of adults’ high expectations and appropriate levels of encouragement and guidance. Children show resilience and determination in taking on more difficult tasks. They are attentive to adults, whose close monitoring means that children move on quickly when they are ready.
• Children engage rapidly with the school’s systems and well-organised routines to reflect on their achievements and improve their work. They delight in moving their photograph along the display of a caterpillar, ‘Percy Progress’, showing when they have gained new knowledge and developed their skills.
• Both the indoor and outside areas of the early years provision are stimulating and exciting environments offering a wide range of resources and opportunities for children to learn. Leaders recognise that the outdoor area can be improved further to boost children’s confidence in engaging with more challenging physical activities. Leaders have plans in place to implement these developments.
• The early years staff forge strong links with parents, including home visits, so that staff get to know children quickly and enable them to have a successful start to their life in school.

School details

Unique reference number 101897 Local authority Ealing Inspection number 10001066 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 Community Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 921 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sarah Wilkins Headteacher Peter Dunmall Telephone number 020 8567 9524 Website www.fieldingprimary.com/ Email address admin@fielding.ealing.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 11–12 July 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is a larger-than-average primary school.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium finding is well below average.
• The proportions of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and receive support, or who have an education, health and care plan or a statement of special educational needs and/or disability are below average.
• More pupils than average represent minority ethnic groups. Approximately half the pupils are of White British backgrounds.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for attainment and progress of pupils by the end of key stage 2.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors held meetings with school leaders, members of staff and members of the governing body. One inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. Inspectors also met with groups of pupils, and one inspector listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of school documents, including the school’s self-evaluation, records of the monitoring of the quality of teaching, the school’s records of pupils’ achievement and documents relating to the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in parts of 28 lessons, sometimes accompanied by school leaders. They also made shorter visits to lessons and to the breakfast and after-school clubs. Inspectors held informal conversations with staff and pupils as they toured the school.
• Inspectors observed the behaviour of pupils in lessons and around the school.
• The responses to surveys completed by staff and pupils, and to Parent View, the online survey for parents, were taken into account.

Inspection team

Amanda Carter-Fraser, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Roger Easthope Ofsted Inspector Sam Nowak Ofsted Inspector David Bryant Ofsted Inspector Milan Stevanovic Ofsted Inspector Emma Nicholls Ofsted Inspector