Perivale Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further strengthen the skills of teachers in stretching and challenging the growing numbers of pupils who are working at greater depth in a range of subjects in each class.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher’s wholehearted commitment to equality of opportunity for all pupils drives the relentless pursuit of excellence. Her inspirational leadership sustains the impetus for continuous improvement. She has invested in the early development of leadership skills of new teachers. As a result, as middle leaders, they make an outstanding contribution to school improvement. Parents, staff and pupils typically agree that leaders have been effective in improving the school since its last inspection.
• Leaders focus sharply on identifying and tackling underachievement. For example, they have quickly reversed dips in phonics standards in key stage 1 and ensured that gaps between outcomes for boys and girls have closed.
• Leaders at all levels use assessment information with exemplary skill to set priorities and hold teachers to account for the impact of their work. There is a strength and depth of leadership of the school which ensures that the quality of teaching is consistently strong in all years and across a wide range of subjects. Teachers who are new to the profession pick up quickly on the expectations and values consistently exemplified by leaders and feel well supported.
• The pupil premium funding is used exceptionally well to ensure that disadvantaged pupils typically make more rapid progress than their peers. The leader responsible for managing this funding is assiduous in her use of information to analyse the impact of this funding.
• The curriculum provides an outstanding range of activities and resources to support pupils’ learning. As a result, pupils produce work of a very high standard in a wide range of subjects. For example, recent three-dimensional reinterpretations of famous paintings demonstrate pupils’ considerable insight into the style and techniques of the original artists.
• Leaders ensure that additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used well to ensure that these pupils make rapid progress from their starting points.
• Pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is strong. Older pupils told inspectors how well they feel prepared for the next stage of their education. Pupils are equipped with the skills and attitudes necessary to consider difficult ethical questions. For example, pupils in Year 4 use literature to consider whether it is right to help the enemy during time of war. This work of the school leaves pupils exceptionally well prepared for their future lives.
• Leaders understand the purpose of additional primary sports funding. The decisions on how to use this further exemplify their commitment to equality of opportunity. They consult with pupils about how to spend this money. Pupils who spoke to inspectors appreciate the wider opportunities this funding has provided to extend their cricketing skills.

Governance of the school

• Governance is strong. Governors understand the way in which leaders have developed the curriculum. They share school leaders’ relentless commitment to overcoming barriers to learning and tackling inequality.
• Governors do not avoid challenging, and analyse leaders’ information and their views, holding them closely to account for securing further improvements. This has been a key factor in ensuring that the school has improved since the last inspection.
• Governors know precisely where the school’s strengths and relative weaknesses lie. They know how to use information to ask the right questions of leaders.
• Governors look beyond the school’s work to comply with safeguarding requirements, challenging school leaders to ensure that the culture of safeguarding is consistently reflected upon and any patterns in concerns are tackled.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders ensure that arrangements for checking on the suitability of staff and following up concerns are coherent and thorough. Governors and senior leaders monitor how well staff understand the school’s procedures and updates in statutory guidance. They use a wide range of information to decide on priorities for training. This of sufficiently high quality to ensure that the school’s work to safeguard against risks in some areas, such as those related to female genital mutilation, is seen as a beacon of excellence in the wider community.
• Pupils say that they feel safe. Leaders notice when pupils require additional support to help them overcome personal difficulties and provide this so that they can continue to concentrate on learning. Parents typically express confidence in the school’s work to keep children safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers plan and adapt lessons with consistently excellent skills so that the needs of pupils with different abilities are met. This is equally true for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and for the most able pupils. As a result, pupils make sustained progress across a wide range of subjects.
• Teachers have very high expectations for pupils’ achievement. They view barriers to learning as challenges to be overcome rather than using them as excuses for underachievement. Teachers use their wide-ranging skills in supporting pupils who speak English as an additional language to make rapid progress in learning to read and write. As a result, those who arrive at the school with very little English quickly gain the confidence and skills to write at length.
• Teachers and additional support staff make accurate use of assessment information. Pupils told inspectors that teachers’ advice is easy for them to understand. The most able pupils make rapid progress in refining and enhancing their writing. In particular, teachers’ extensive subject knowledge enables them to ensure that pupils know how to organise and present their writing to take full account of its audience and purpose.
• Teachers spoke passionately to inspectors about the work of leaders to help them further develop their skills in teaching phonics. They see themselves as experts, and rightly so. As a result, current pupils have made accelerated progress in the current year.
• In mathematics, teachers explain calculation methods and new vocabulary with precision and in a way that pupils can understand. Additional adults quickly pick up on pupils’ misconceptions and mistakes, offering them effective advice and encouragement.
• Teachers ensure that the most able pupils are stretched to deepen their understanding. The proportion of pupils learning in greater depth continues to grow. Leaders recognise the need to further strengthen teachers’ skills in adapting lessons to challenge this group of pupils.
• Teachers and support staff provide excellent opportunities for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to make rapid progress. They use assessment information astutely to decide on the most appropriate way to help these pupils make small steps in their learning. They constantly reassess and evaluate the impact of lessons on pupils’ learning.
• Across a wide range of subjects, teachers ensure that lessons involve inspirational activities and that pupils’ progress in acquiring skills and knowledge in each subject is carefully monitored.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils thrive on the stimulating school environment. The wide range of opportunities offered helps them awaken their talents and recognise how they can contribute to the school community.
• Pupils are given a wide range of responsibilities in school. They speak proudly of their roles and can explain the difference they are making.
• Pupils develop such confidence in understanding how to stay safe when using the internet that they contribute to training provided by the school for their parents.
• Older pupils told inspectors how well prepared they feel for going to secondary school. They carry themselves with a self-confidence and humble assurance which conveys vividly the tremendous impact that school leaders have on pupils’ personal development.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils demonstrate an unerring commitment to learning during lessons. Teachers rarely need to remind pupils of the school’s expectations for their conduct. Lessons are very rarely disrupted.
• During playtime and in the dining hall, pupils’ enjoyment and capacity for collaboration are palpable. There are lots of interesting things for pupils to do and talk about.
• School records shows that instances of discriminatory behaviour, including bullying, are very rare. Pupils confirm that everyone gets along well with one another and they know where to go about getting help should they need it.
• Pupils attend school well. Attendance rates are above the national average in the current year. Leaders have been effective in rapidly improving the poor attendance of a small number of pupils, particularly those entitled to pupil premium funding.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• By the end of key stage 2, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics exceeds the national average.
• The most able pupils with higher starting points in these subjects make outstanding progress. As a result, the proportion working at greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics is also higher than the national average.
• As leaders work to continuously accelerate pupils’ progress continues to be successful, the proportion of the most able pupils working at greater depth is increasing rapidly in the current year. Leaders recognise the need to sustain the excellent progress of this group of pupils by providing them with even more effective stretch and challenge in their learning.
• Disadvantaged pupils achieve higher standards than other pupils nationally overall. In 2016, the proportion achieving the expected standard in writing and mathematics was above the national average and close to the national average in reading. The progress of current pupils is rapid. As a result, disadvantaged pupils with lower starting points are rapidly catching up with their peers.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make similar outstanding progress to other pupils from their starting points. Pupils who joined the school with little or no skills in English benefit from expert guidance and support. As a result, most are able to speak and write in grammatically accurate English within a few months of their arrival.
• Pupils produce work of a high quality across the curriculum. For example, older pupils can write at length about the features of different forms of government. In science, pupils quickly progress to using a range of measures when carrying out investigations. For example, Year 6 pupils know how to investigate how the brightness of a bulb varies when the length of wire in an electric circuit changes.
• Leaders have rapidly reversed a recent downturn in the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in phonics by the end of Year 1. In the current year, a much higher proportion of pupils than seen nationally have reached the expected standard.
• Examples of pupils’ writing seen on inspection demonstrate how effectively pupils build on their prior learning to develop their own writing styles and incorporate features specific to different types of writing in their work.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The early years prepare children exceptionally well for the next stage of their education in Year 1. Children make exceptional progress from low starting points. The proportion of current pupils on track to achieve a good level of development is above the national average. Additionally, nearly one quarter of children are exceeding this standard.
• Leaders ensure that potential barriers to learning are overcome and gaps in achievement between groups of pupils are closed. For instance, leaders have responded quickly to ensure that boys achieve as well as girls in the current year after noticing a gap emerging in 2016.
• The early years leader and his staff drive improvements with passion and determination. They expect excellence from one another and inspire children and parents to embrace the same high expectations.
• Leaders make sure that the impact of their plans for improvement are tracked and evaluated thoroughly. This has led to an ongoing improvement in outcomes over time. Teachers continually debate how to improve the setting further. Professional development is at the heart of the work. As a result, the quality of teaching is consistently excellent in all classes.
• Teachers strive to adapt and improve activities, both indoors and outdoors. For example, recent work to incorporate the use of natural materials in the outdoor setting has led to even better opportunities for the development of children’s learning across the curriculum.
• Teachers support children’s development of early reading, writing and mathematical skills outstandingly well. The teaching of phonics is accurate and inspirational. As a result, children love to be at school. Boys and girls alike become immersed in reading and writing activities. Teachers are effective in ensuring that pupils who speak English as an additional language make rapid progress in using accurate spoken language.
• The most able children thrive on inspiring and challenging tasks. Teachers skilfully adapt activities when they realise that children need more challenge or additional guidance.
• Additional adults ask skilful questions to check on children’s understanding and build an accurate picture of their learning.
• Safeguarding is effective in the early years. Members of staff are vigilant about children’s health and safety. Children are taught how to be mindful of risks and make rapid progress in their ability to cooperate. As a result, the most able children are capable of sustaining independent play. For example, during the inspection, a group of children were organising and playing a game of football with very little need for adult support.
• Parents typically agree that children behave well and are pleased with the way the school supports their children’s personal and educational development.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101906 Ealing 10031752 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 Number of pupils on the school roll Community 3 to 11 Mixed 466 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Faiza Subhani Sarah Wilson 020 8997 0619 www.perivale.ealing.sch.uk admin@perivale.ealing.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 20–21 November 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• This school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The school meets the government’s floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the end of key stage 2.
• The proportion of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, entitled to the pupil premium, is average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is much higher than average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons in all parts of the school. Many of these observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders. Inspectors observed pupils during playtime and the lunch break.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, representatives of the governing body and an officer of the local authority. Inspectors held several discussions with middle leaders responsible for different sources of funding and other aspects of the school’s work.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documents, including information about pupils’ achievements and records of the checks carried out by leaders on the quality of teaching. Inspectors looked at behaviour records, attendance information and documents related to safeguarding.
• Inspectors met with parents informally and considered the school’s own questionnaire of parents’ views. There were too few responses to the online Parent View survey to produce an analysis. 35 responses to the staff questionnaire were considered, along with 12 responses to the pupil survey.
• A range of pupils’ work was scrutinised. Inspectors spoke with pupils to consider their views about the school and heard some of them read.

Inspection team

Andrew Wright, lead inspector Angela Corbett Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Rosemarie McCarthy Ofsted Inspector Michelle Thomas, lead inspector

Ofsted Inspector