Tudor Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by making sure that all teachers:
  • use assessment information more precisely in lessons to check pupils’ understanding and to reshape tasks and explanations when necessary
  • are confident to ask questions of pupils to encourage them to reason and think more deeply about what they are learning and to articulate their understanding.
• Ensure that the most able pupils are sufficiently challenged in all lessons across the curriculum so that they achieve the best they can.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher leads with purpose and direction. Her ambition for pupils to achieve the best outcomes underpins the effective leadership in the school. She is well supported by a cohesive team of staff. They know the school and the pupils well and focus on appropriate priorities for improvement.
• Leaders have been successful in addressing the weaknesses identified in the previous inspection. In particular, they have had a sharp focus on improving the quality of teaching. As a result, standards have risen across the curriculum, including English and mathematics, in both key stages.
• Several teachers are new to teaching and are given excellent support by senior leaders, who are skilled practitioners themselves. Leaders work with teachers in the classroom, coaching and modelling good practice. They provide precise feedback to teachers on how they can improve their practice through observations of lessons and checks on quality of work in pupils’ books. Consequently, the overall quality of teaching across the school is now good.
• Subject leaders are committed to bringing about improvements. They are clear about the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement in the areas for which they are responsible. They have planned a clear and well-chosen set of actions, based on accurate self-evaluation, to raise achievement further. For example, the physical education and science leaders are well aware of where pupils’ progress is slower and how to support teachers to address this.
• Pupils behave well in class and many are curious and want to learn as much as they can. Around the school, in assembly, in the playground and when eating lunch, pupils’ behaviour is good.
• Leaders provide a good curriculum that supports pupils’ strong progress, extending their knowledge across a wide range of subjects. Pupils experience a broad range of activities that promote their literacy, mathematical, creative, social and physical skills. Topics are planned carefully to motivate and enthuse pupils.
• Reflecting good leadership, provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. As a result, pupils know about religions other than their own and show a deep respect for all of their peers, regardless of differences. British values are central to the ethos of the school and pupils are taught the values of respect, democracy, the rule of law and tolerance.
• Careful attention is given to pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. The coordination of provision is based on a close understanding of the pupils who require extra support and the funding is spent wisely. Interventions are put in place and reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that pupils make good progress.
• Early, short-term interventions for pupils new to learning English draw upon rich resources and strategies which immerse pupils in the language from the time they join the school.
• Leaders are skilled in identifying the barriers to learning for the above-average proportion of pupils in the school who are disadvantaged. They use the pupil premium funding effectively to ensure that individual pupils’ needs are met. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils. As a result, they make good progress, both academically and personally. Leaders focus on providing enrichment experiences, as well as academic, social and emotional support for pupils and their families.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is spent effectively. Leaders and governors have a clear plan for how the money should be spent and what the impact should be. They have set appropriate goals to ensure that pupils have healthy, active lifestyles and to support more pupils to take part in extra-curricular activities. As a result, the participation of girls in sports such as tag rugby, for example, has improved.
• Leaders acknowledge the occasional lack of consistency in the quality of teaching and, as highlighted in the school improvement plan, the need to provide greater challenge for the most able pupils across all subjects. Leaders have already taken the initial steps to combat the weaknesses identified by inspectors.

Governance of the school

• The governing body has been reorganised since the previous inspection and is now significantly more effective. Governors bring their professional skills in finance, health and higher education, for example, to the service of the school. They have provided timely and effective support to leaders to develop the school’s own staff, as set out in the school’s ‘growing our own’ programme.
• Governors are ambitious for the school. They know the strengths of the school well. They have full confidence in the leadership team to drive further improvements in both key stages. Governors receive information from leaders about all aspects of the school’s work, which enables them to challenge and support leaders.
• Governors have a good understanding of pupils’ achievement. They are skilled at interpreting assessment information received from the headteacher. Governors are increasingly effective in asking leaders probing questions about pupils’ performance of pupils. This means that they challenge leaders to ensure that pupils achieve well.
• Governors’ monitoring of the school’s performance management system is effective.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders, staff and governors ensure that pupils’ safety and welfare is at the core of the school’s work. The designated safeguarding leaders diligently carry out their duties. They are quick to follow up concerns and put in place support for pupils when needed. They also provide regular training and check that staff understand their responsibilities, for example in relation to the government’s ‘Prevent’ duty and the signs that pupils may be at risk of female genital mutilation.
• Staff are trained well and are vigilant in checking that pupils feel safe and are well looked after. The system for reporting concerns is effectively managed, and all staff know who they should contact if they need to report any issues. Safeguarding referrals to local authorities and other appropriate agencies are made appropriately and rigorously followed up.
• Checks of the statutory requirements and procedures for the safe recruitment of staff by the school’s safeguarding leads are rigorous.
• Almost all parents who responded to Parent View, the inspection questionnaire, agreed that their children feel safe and are well looked after.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Leaders have ensured that improvements have resulted in good teaching, learning and assessment across a range of subjects in the school. Previously weak teaching has improved and this has led to pupils making good progress from their starting points.
• Teachers know pupils extremely well and plan activities that generally meet their needs and excite their imaginations. Excellent relationships also contribute to pupils’ very positive attitudes to learning.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is strong. When introducing new learning to pupils in English and mathematics, teachers give clear demonstrations and examples. As a result, pupils acquire new skills confidently and quickly.
• The teaching of phonics is effective. Teachers ensure that pupils’ knowledge of the sounds that letters make is secure. Pupils understand how sounds change when preceded and followed by different letters. Pupils learn to separate and put sounds together accurately and apply these well in reading and writing activities. Reading comprehension is taught well and pupils have a good understanding of the texts that they read.
• The teaching of writing has improved considerably since the previous inspection. Teachers ensure that pupils learn and practise different kinds of writing across the curriculum. Pupils develop and apply an appropriate range of vocabulary and punctuation in their writing as they move through the school. Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve in writing are now high. Consequently, pupils make good progress in both key stages.
• Many teachers are skilful in asking pupils questions that promote discussion of ideas and explore strategies that enable them to be successful in their learning. However, questions are not consistently well matched to the different abilities of pupils. This means that there are occasions when some pupils are not challenged to think deeply enough about what they know and understand.
• Teachers apply the school’s marking and feedback policy and procedures consistently well. As a result, most pupils know what to do to improve their work. Occasionally however, teachers do not take sufficient account of assessment information to check pupils’ understanding in lessons and adjust their teaching if necessary. When this happens, it limits the progress of some pupils.
• In lessons and across the curriculum, the most able pupils are not challenged sufficiently to work at the higher levels or practise the skills they have learned. Although these pupils achieve well in English and mathematics by the end of each key stage, they are clearly capable of making even stronger progress in these and other subjects.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils show respect for one another and for adults. Older pupils have a caring attitude towards their younger peers. Pupils have a clear understanding of right and wrong.
• Pupils feel safe at Tudor Primary, and staff work tirelessly to ensure that every child is cared for. Pupils learn from their fellow e-cadets how to be safe on the internet and understand the difference between real friends and ‘online friends’. Younger pupils are also able to explain how to stay safe online. Parents strongly agree that the school keeps pupils safe. Staff are diligent in finding out how pupils feel and what issues are concerning them.
• Pupils show much enthusiasm for their work and have good levels of resilience when solving problems. They are curious and want to learn as much as they can. They are proud of their work. Pupils learn to manage their relationships well and sensibly resolve minor disputes between each other.
• Incidents of bullying are rare, and the school has clear systems in place to deal effectively with any that arise. Pupils trust staff to deal with any incidents quickly.
• The school is effective in encouraging pupils to develop healthy lifestyles. The strong emphasis on physical education and the wide range of after-school and lunchtime clubs have a positive effect on their health and fitness.
• Parents are very pleased with the school. They appreciate the improvements that have been made since the previous inspection and are happy with the school’s management of pupils’ behaviour. Most parents feel involved in the ‘learning journey’ of their children.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are polite, courteous, friendly and welcoming. Around the school, in assembly, in the playground and when eating lunch, pupils’ behaviour is good. They display good manners and listen well to their teachers. Pupils respond quickly to teachers’ instructions, and very little time is lost in lessons. Disruption in lessons is rare.
• The behaviour policy is applied consistently across the school by all members of staff. Pupils said that the ‘traffic light’ system helps them to improve behaviour, and they think that the system is fair.
• The school is meticulous in recording and dealing with behaviour incidents if and when they happen. Consequently, exclusions are very low; there have been no exclusions since the start of this academic year.
• Attendance is in line with the national average for primary schools. The school is diligent and robust in its monitoring, support of, and challenge to pupils and families. Pupils arrive at school on time and are not late for lessons.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• At the time of the previous inspection, after a good start in the early years, pupils’ progress was limited and standards in key stage 1 were below average. Improvements in teaching resulted in stronger progress and rising attainment in English and mathematics in 2017. This trend has continued, with current pupils making good progress in key stage 1 to build on the skills developed in the Nursery and Reception classes. As a result, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is broadly in line with the national average.
• Standards in key stage 2 have improved considerably and were above the national average in writing and mathematics in 2017. Writing was a key area for improvement in the previous inspection. Leaders took decisive action to implement a range of strategies to improve pupils’ progress and attainment in writing. The work seen in books and information provided by the school indicates that current pupils are making increasingly strong progress in writing across the curriculum.
• The school has developed a strong culture for reading, for example through its ‘10 point Reading Pledge’. From an early age, pupils are keen to talk about their books and have positive attitudes to reading. The library is a warm and welcoming space where pupils enjoy reading. Teachers work hard to open up the world of reading to their pupils and are successful in this.
• Current work in pupils’ books and assessment information provided by the school show that different groups of pupils are making broadly the same good progress from their starting points. This includes disadvantaged pupils and also those who have SEN and/or disabilities. However, some differences remain across the school, in particular with less progress being made in Years 3 and 4. Leaders and teachers are aware of this and are using a range of intervention strategies to bring about full consistency of provision and outcomes.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language are supported very well, often by bilingual adults who are proficient in speaking the child’s home language. Pupils who are new to the school are assessed quickly and additional support is put in place. This enables pupils to have access to all areas of the curriculum alongside their classmates.
• Inspectors scrutinised ‘class portfolios’ containing pupils’ work in a range of subjects, including art, design and technology, and personal, social and health education. The work seen demonstrated good development of subject and cross-curricular skills. For example, in designing, making and evaluating a product, pupils gave consideration to the ethical implications of what they produced.
• The most able pupils make good progress and most achieve above-average standards in English and mathematics. However, as shown in lessons and their topic books, they are not challenged to achieve consistently high standards in these subjects and across the curriculum. As a result, some of these pupils are not making the progress of which they are capable.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children start school with skills and abilities typically below or well below those expected for their age. Almost all children speak English as an additional language and are not proficient in either English or their home language when they start school.
• The proportion of children who reach a good level of development at the end of the Reception Year is above the national average and represents outstanding progress from their starting points for the very large majority of children.
• High-quality teaching, good resources and the commitment of all staff to ensuring the children’s personal, social and academic development are found across all classes and groups. All interactions between staff and children are underpinned by positive, caring and strong relationships.
• Children are given good opportunities to develop their writing skills; many achieve above-average standards by the end of the Reception Year. For example, inspectors saw some children writing several interesting sentences and paragraphs in the form of a letter to ‘the three little pigs’.
• Leadership and management of the early years are very effective. Leaders have a very clear view of the strengths and areas for development of the early years provision. Leaders organise the curriculum and resources effectively to meet the needs of all pupils. Teachers plan activities that capture the interests and imagination of children and provide them with fun and purposeful experiences. As a result, all children make strong progress, including disadvantaged children and also those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Children behave very well. They quickly learn to share and cooperate well with each other. Children also begin to show care and concern for their peers. They play well together and alongside each other.
• Links with parents and carers are strong. From initial home visits, parents are encouraged to be heavily involved in their child’s learning. Leaders constantly review and reflect on home links, to improve and refine their relationships with parents.
• Leaders ensure that statutory welfare requirements are met. Children are safe and their needs are well met. They are exceptionally well cared for and happy.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101913 Ealing 10041963 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 456 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Manjit Singh Sahota Jaskawaljeet Kalra Telephone number 020 857 4818 Website Email address www.tudorprimary.co.uk admin@tudor.ealing.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 23–24 February 2016

Information about this school

• This school is larger than the average primary school.
• There are two classes in each year group. The early years foundation stage comprises two part-time morning and afternoon Nursery classes and two full-time Reception classes.
• The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is high. Just under half of the pupils are from Indian backgrounds. Pupils from Pakistani, Black African and Bangladeshi backgrounds account for the next largest ethnic groups.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is high. Some of these are at the early stage of learning English.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is in line with the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported through the pupil premium funding is above the national figure.
• The proportion of pupils joining the school at other than normal times is above the national average.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectation for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school has several teachers who are not yet qualified; they work closely with senior leaders to plan and deliver day-to-day teaching.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in 20 lessons, some with senior leaders, including a few intervention activities. They carried out additional ‘learning walks’ to pursue specific enquiries.
• The team held meetings with senior and middle leaders, teachers who have not yet qualified, four representatives of the governing body and two groups of pupils, as well as informal conversations with pupils in lessons and at social times. Inspectors listened to pupils reading.
• Inspectors looked at safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures, self-evaluation and improvement planning, minutes of meetings from the governing body, assessment information, records of pupils’ attendance and other information provided by school leaders.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ books in lessons and a sample of portfolios of pupils’ work belonging to classes in both key stages.
• They took account of the views of seven parents spoken to during the inspection as well as the 50 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. Fifty-one responses from staff and 28 responses from pupils were also considered.

Inspection team

Nasim Butt, lead inspector Nicholas Cornell Kusum Trikha Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector