Chesterfield Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching and outcomes across the subjects by:
  • teachers carefully matching their activities and teaching strategies to meet the needs of pupils in their classes, especially those with SEND in the additional resource provision
  • teachers raising expectations of the quality and quantity of work that pupils produce
  • teachers modelling and ensuring that pupils can spell accurately and confidently across the subjects.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • strengthening the leadership of the additional resource provision
  • increasing the rigour by which leaders check the impact of the school improvement work and use the findings to develop further the teaching across the curriculum
  • ensuring that all adults who teach phonics in key stage 1 are trained well to develop pupils’ early reading skills
  • trustees and local governors more stringently holding leaders to account
  • taking actions more urgently to improve attendance and reduce persistent absence.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Since the school became an academy, school leaders and trustees have not ensured that teaching and pupils’ outcomes are routinely good across the school. In 2017 and 2018, standards in the Year 1 phonics screening and in English and mathematics in key stages 1 and 2 were below average. Rates of absence and persistent absence increased. Teaching and children’s outcomes in the early years, however, improved.
• The new headteacher is working with the leadership team to secure much-needed improvements. Leaders and staff pay considerable attention to pupils’ safety and welfare, as many pupils have circumstances that make them vulnerable. The headteacher, other leaders and trustees are now focusing their work on raising expectations of staff to improve pupils’ academic performance. Staff morale is high, and they welcome recent initiatives aimed at raising standards.
• This year, leaders have introduced a coherent training programme to help teachers develop and improve their teaching skills. Leaders and teachers have opportunities to attend training and share good practice with colleagues across the trust. Although there are signs of improving teaching and progress for current pupils, variations across the subjects and year groups remain.
• Leaders observe teaching and check work in pupils’ books. They focus their observations on checking that teachers are compliant with the school’s teaching policy and agreed strategies. They do not, however, check with enough rigour how well new teaching strategies are deepening pupils’ learning. Consequently, senior leaders do not have an accurate picture of pupils’ progress across the curriculum and their evaluation of the school’s overall performance is too generous.
• The funding for pupils with SEND is not used effectively to enable these pupils to make good progress. Owing to recent turbulence in staff, the leadership of the additional resource provision has not been effective. Provision, including making adaptations to the curriculum, and extra support is not sharply enough focused to meet pupils’ specific needs. With the recent changes, however, there are early signs of improvement,
• The curriculum covers the range of subjects and topics in line with the national curriculum. However, teaching across the subjects does not routinely develop pupils’ skills and knowledge expected for their age groups with enough depth. There are insufficient opportunities for pupils to apply their writing skills in different subjects.
• Leaders promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Pupils benefit from a range of enrichment activities. For example, they take part in visits to museums, places of worship and the theatre. Pupils learn about fundamental British values. They go to the polls to elect their school parliament, after which they learn about the United Kingdom government and visit Westminster. In these ways, leaders prepare pupils well for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders use the primary sports funding well. The school employs a specialist coach to deliver lessons and a range of sporting clubs. Leaders also arrange sporting activities at lunchtimes. Pupils take part in local competitive leagues and sporting festivals. As a result, pupils take part in regular exercise to improve their physical health.
• Leaders are benefiting this year from the increased support from trust advisers. It has been particularly effective in improving the early years provision.

Governance of the school

• Trustees have overall responsibility for governance. They delegate some monitoring functions, mainly around standards, teaching and pupils’ behaviour and attendance, to the local governing body (LGB).
• Trustees and members of the local governing body get information about the school’s work through a variety of means. These include regular reports from the headteacher, the chief operating officer, a team of trust advisers and an external consultant.
• Trustees and the LGB do not hold school leaders to account with enough rigour. Therefore, they have an overly optimistic view of the progress that the school has made this year.
• Members of the LGB recently introduced termly themed visits to the school. During the first of these, they explored aspects of the school’s provision for pupils with SEND. This is giving them useful independent information about aspects of the school’s work.
• This year, trustees put in extra advisory support to help the school improve. There are some signs of improvement.
• Trustees and the LGB share and communicate a vision to improve pupils’ life chances, especially for those pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable. They are aware that the school needs to improve pupils’ outcomes to achieve their vision.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders make sure that staff know the latest government safeguarding guidance. Leaders and staff have a good knowledge of the local and school community issues that could pose a threat to pupils’ safety and welfare. Members of staff are alert and report any concerns that they have about pupils’ safety and well-being.
• Leaders work well with a range of external agencies and with parents and carers to help pupils stay safe.
• Leaders help pupils to understand risks and how to avoid danger. This includes providing theatre workshops highlighting the dangers of gangs and carrying knives.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• The quality of teaching is variable across the school. Consequently, pupils do not routinely make strong progress across different subjects and between classes as they move through the school.
• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low. Teachers do not use assessment information well enough to prepare activities that meet pupils’ needs and challenge them to make strong progress. As a result, pupils do not do enough work of a good quality. This limits them from reaching the standards of which they are capable.
• The teaching of early reading requires improvement. In some phonics groups, the adults do not make sure that pupils sound out the letters correctly. Furthermore, they do not give pupils enough opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge in their writing. As a result, those pupils are not reading as well as they should. In groups led by knowledgeable and well-trained teachers, however, pupils make good progress.
• Reading comprehension books show that teachers are implementing the new agreed teaching strategies. They show that pupils are beginning to improve their analytical skills and understand texts in more depth.
• In writing, teachers make sure that pupils write in a range of genres and for different purposes and audiences. However, in some classes, pupils do not write at length and do not develop their grammatical skills well enough. Teachers, across the subjects, do not pay enough attention to developing pupils’ spelling skills. Inspectors saw a few examples of teachers not modelling correct spelling.
• In mathematics, teaching covers a range of topics and teachers give pupils opportunities to solve problems and to explain their mathematical reasoning. They give pupils useful resources to help them better understand mathematical concepts. However, teachers do not give the most able pupils sufficiently challenging work, and a few teachers occasionally misunderstand some mathematical concepts. Pupils’ overall progress, therefore, is not routinely strong.
• Over time, teaching for pupils with SEND in the additional resource provision has not ensured that they make good progress. This is because teachers have not planned learning well enough to meet pupils’ needs, especially those of pupils with complex needs.
• Where teaching is effective, teachers give pupils clear explanations and model and exemplify how to tackle problems successfully. They give pupils opportunities to practise and move them on with more difficult work when they have mastered a skill. Teachers use questioning effectively to deepen pupils’ understanding. Teachers make good use of additional adults to support pupils who need extra help. This includes pupils with SEND and those new to the school with little knowledge of English. As a result, pupils in those classes make good progress.
• Teachers give pupils many opportunities to discuss their learning and work together. As a result, pupils develop good speaking skills, and learn and apply the correct subject-specific vocabulary.
• Teaching makes a good contribution to pupils’ personal development. In English, for example, pupils had to consider the moral dilemmas presented by keeping animals in a zoo. They had to think of both arguments and counter-arguments before reaching their own conclusions.
• Teachers set homework in line with the school’s policy. Pupils consolidate their work, read regularly and, in longer-term projects, develop their creative skills, such as in making models of Big Ben.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Pupils know that staff value and take good care of them. Leaders regularly check pupils’ emotional well-being. Mentors support pupils who need extra help in building up their confidence and self-esteem. When necessary, mentors visit former pupils to help them settle down during the first term of their secondary education. In these ways, leaders promote pupils’ mental health and well-being.
• Pupils of different faiths, cultures and ethnicities get along well together. Pupils who join the school at other than the usual times appreciate the help and friendship that their appointed ‘buddies’ show them. It helps them settle in quickly and make new friends.
• Pupils understand the different forms that bullying can take, including cyber and racist bullying. They say that, if bullying did happen, they are confident that staff would quickly deal with it.
• Pupils feel safe in the school. They told inspectors about the recent ‘lockdown’ practice so that they know what to do should an intruder enter the site. Visitors, such as from the police, fire and ambulance services, help pupils to understand how to keep safe.
• Older pupils relish the opportunities for work experience in the school. Through the processes of writing applications for ‘jobs’ and attending interviews, they start learning about how to secure work in their adulthood.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement.
• Attendance over time has been below average and persistent absence is high. Leaders recently introduced some new strategies, including working with parents and external agencies, to improve pupils’ attendance. Rates of absence are slowly beginning to decline.
• Pupils are friendly, polite and welcoming to visitors. Pupils have good attitudes to learning. They work well independently, in pairs and in groups.
• Rates of exclusion have declined since the school became an academy.
• The few pupils who attend off-site provision have high rates of attendance. They benefit from the specialist support. As a result, they are meeting their respective speech and language or behaviour targets.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over time, in key stages 1 and 2, pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics has been consistently below that of other pupils nationally. Pupils have also not made enough progress in developing their knowledge and skills in a range of other subjects.
• Pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics combined at the end of key stage 2 was well below the national average in 2017 and in 2018.
• In 2018, the proportion of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 was well below national figures.
• Inspection evidence shows that teaching in some classes and subjects is improving and leading to better outcomes. Overall progress from September, however, is still not routinely good across the school and subjects. This applies to different groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, late joiners, and those with SEND.
• Pupils in the additional resource provision are only now beginning to make progress. This is because of leadership and staffing difficulties last term, which limited their learning.
• Pupils leave the school with standards that are below those expected for their age. Therefore, they are not well prepared for the next stages of their education.

Early years provision Good

• Leadership of the early years is effective. With the support of the trust’s early years consultant, leaders have improved the curriculum, teaching and children’s outcomes. They have created a stimulating learning environment that captures children’s imaginations.
• Children enter the early years with skills that are typically below those expected for their age, especially in language and communication. As a result of the improvements, the proportions of children entering Year 1 with a good level of development has been on a three-year upward trend. Inspection evidence confirms that current children are making good progress across all areas of learning.
• Teaching is good across all classes in the Nursery and Reception. Teachers plan a range of activities that meet children’s needs and interests. Adults model good standard English and challenge children to expand their knowledge and understanding of things in which they show an interest. Teachers and other adults organise a lot of recall and reinforcement activities, so that children remember their learning over time. As a result, children make good progress.
• Teaching of phonics is effective, and children develop a love for books and reading. Some children asked inspectors to read with them, for instance.
• Inspection evidence shows that all groups of children are making good progress because of good teaching and support. The extra help for children who fall behind their peers is effective in helping them to catch up. Work in children’s books and learning journeys confirms that disadvantaged children, those with SEND and those for whom English is an additional language are learning well.
• Children are inquisitive, polite and welcoming. They have good attention spans and enjoy talking about their learning with adults. Children show respect for each other, take turns and share equipment sensibly.
• Children are confident and feel safe, as they know that adults care for them. This was confirmed by parents who spoke to inspectors.
• Leaders are planning to develop further the outdoor area and are finding more ways to involve parents in their children’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 143200 Enfield 10058860 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 Academy converter 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 770 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Headteacher John West Kelly Gradwell (Interim headteacher) Telephone number 01992 760 678 Website Email address www.chesterfieldprimaryschool.co.uk office@chesterfieldprimaryelt.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The school became an academy convertor on 1 September 2016. It is part of the Enfield Learning Trust. When its predecessor school of the same name was last inspected by Ofsted in January 2013, it was judged to be good overall.
• Academy trustees have overall responsibility for governance. They delegate some monitoring functions, mainly around standards, teaching, and pupils’ behaviour and attendance, to the LGB.
• The school has two specially resourced provisions for eight pupils each, one funded by the local authority and the other by the school. Both these provisions are for pupils with SEND, diagnosed with severe learning difficulties. Currently, 16 pupils attend these provisions.
• A very small number of pupils attend part-time alternative provision at Suffolk Primary School, Enfield, for speech and language support or Addison House, Enfield, for pupils experiencing emotional and behavioural difficulties.
• There have been several changes to senior leadership this year. The former deputy headteacher, who had been seconded to work for the trust, was appointed as interim headteacher from September 2018. At the same time, trustees appointed another deputy headteacher as interim head of school and created two new assistant headteacher posts, one for English and one for mathematics. The trustees are currently recruiting a new senior leader to replace the senior leader for inclusion, who recently left the school. The trustees replaced the previous LGB by appointing a trustee to chair a new amalgamated LGB for this and another of the trust’s schools.
• Trustees arrange support for school leaders from within the trust. Currently this includes support from the trust’s standards adviser and from the trust’s early years adviser.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in a range of classes. Senior leaders joined inspectors during these visits.
• Inspectors looked closely at pupils’ work to inform judgements made about pupils’ outcomes and the quality of teaching and learning.
• Inspectors met with two groups of pupils and spoke informally to other pupils in lessons and during social times. Inspectors met with school leaders and other members of staff.
• Meetings were held with the chair of trustees and the chair of the LGB.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation, such as that relating to pupils’ attainment and progress. They also looked at records and documentation about pupils’ behaviour, attendance and exclusions, and the ways staff help to keep pupils safe.
• Inspectors considered the 24 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire for parents, which included some free-text responses. They had informal conversations with parents in the playground. Inspectors took account of the views of 47 members of staff.

Inspection team

David Radomsky, lead inspector Bola Soneye-Thomas Sarah Lack Sam Hainey Lizzie Jeanes

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector