Tottenhall Infant School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching by:
  • teachers having higher expectations of what pupils can achieve
  • challenging pupils, especially the most able, with more difficult work that makes them think harder
  • planning more systematically the teaching of punctuation and grammar and their application in pupils’ writing so that they are better prepared to reach the standards expected for their age
  • ensuring that the teaching of phonics is effective enough to help pupils who are behind to quickly catch up with their classmates.
• Improve pupils’ outcomes by ensuring that:
  • the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check is closer to national averages
  • the proportion of pupils attaining greater-depth standards in reading, writing and mathematics from their early years starting points is in line with national averages.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that all leaders are focused on improving teaching and raising achievement
  • checking more thoroughly how well actions are implemented and the impact they are having on raising pupils’ outcomes, including for different groups of pupils
  • ensuring that newer leaders quickly develop the skills they need to lead effectively in their areas of responsibility.
• Improve the quality of the early years provision by ensuring that:
  • leaders raise their expectations of what children can achieve
  • teaching improves so that children make the accelerated progress of which they are capable and a higher proportion leave Reception well prepared for Year 1.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Leaders and managers, including governors, have not succeeded in implementing improvements fast enough. Members of staff are not ambitious enough to push pupils hard to meet their academic potential. As a result, too few pupils make the progress they need to reach the standards of which they are capable. This includes children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1, especially the most able.
• Leaders regularly analyse pupils’ progress data and use the information for arranging additional support for those who fall behind. They do not, however, consistently observe and check the quality and effectiveness of the extra support. This includes the extra help financed by the pupil premium and special educational needs (SEN) funding, as well as interventions intended to stretch the most able pupils. As a result, they are not fully aware of what is working well and what is not.
• Leaders are succeeding in arresting the previous three-year rise in pupils’ absence. Attendance in the autumn term this year increased on the previous year and persistent absence decreased. Although there has been a sustained improvement overall, leaders have not analysed and determined which pupil groups have the poorest attendance and how this impacts on their learning. Leaders are aware that they need to do more to reduce further the rates of absence.
• Senior leaders frequently observe lessons and give feedback to teachers to help them improve their effectiveness. Teachers and teaching assistants are subject to annual appraisal reviews. Leaders set members of staff targets that are in line with the school’s priorities. Last year’s training and support to improve the teaching of mathematics were effective. As a result, more pupils than in the previous year reached the standards expected for their age.
• The school works closely with many other local schools to share ideas, jointly moderate work and support each other. The school has links with universities and is currently participating in a project aimed at improving outcomes at key stage 1. It is too soon to judge the impact of this initiative.
• Leaders and members of staff care deeply about the pupils’ and families’ welfare. They make sure that pupils and their families whose circumstances make them vulnerable are effectively supported. They strive to make sure that all pupils enjoy the same opportunities, such as participating in many enrichment activities. For some years, the school has held a national accreditation for the quality of inclusion.
• Leaders plan the curriculum to cover all aspects of the national curriculum. They enhance it by offering pupils many enrichment activities, visits and visitors. Pupils learn about different artists and their particular styles. There is much evidence of pupils’ good-quality artwork displayed around the school, for instance. They benefit from learning from specialist sports coaches and dance teachers and the resultant opportunities for participating in local dance and sporting events. Pupils enthusiastically told inspectors about their recent visits to the maritime museum, a synagogue and the theatre. These opportunities make a strong contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. These also prepare them well for life in modern Britain.
• Parents and carers are very happy with the support and education that their children receive at the school. Members of staff who responded to the inspection questionnaire were overwhelmingly positive. They are very supportive of the school’s leaders and all agreed that they are proud to work in this school.

Governance of the school

• Governors bring a range of skills and experience, including from the worlds of education and social work, to their role. They have a clear understanding of the school’s work. They have not, however, made the development of teaching to address the improvement points from the previous inspection enough of a priority.
• The governors communicate a clear vision for the school. They aspire to nurture pupils, develop pupils’ self-confidence and give them a range of learning and enrichment opportunities.
• The governors know the school community well and the challenges that it faces. They make sure that the school firmly supports pupils and their families in addressing their welfare needs.
• Governors are supportive of the headteacher and other leaders. Occasionally, they invite middle leaders to the standards committee to report on their work.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Three senior leaders are trained as designated safeguarding leads. They make sure that all members of staff are kept up to date with the latest guidance. Leaders and members of staff are aware of the safeguarding-related issues to which the pupils may be vulnerable. There is a good culture of vigilance and reporting of any concerns.
• Leaders work closely with external agencies and parents to address any safeguarding and welfare concerns.
• The curriculum helps pupils understand how to stay safe, such as when using the internet. Pupils benefit from a workshop delivered by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children about inappropriate touching. Leaders also invite parents to attend safety-related workshops.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching has not been strong enough to ensure good overall progress across the subjects. The teaching of writing and phonics is in the most urgent need of improvement.
• Teachers and some leaders, at times, are not ambitious enough. They sometimes mistakenly believe that pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable have limited ability to make rapid progress. Therefore, they do not demand sufficient quality and quantity of work. This slows pupils’ progress.
• Too much of the work provided for the most able pupils lacks challenge. Teachers do not extend pupils’ thinking and knowledge enough.
• The teaching of phonics has not been good enough to support pupils’ good reading skills. Leaders have reorganised the teaching of phonics in Year 1 but the quality of learning remains variable and it is too soon to judge the long-term impact.
• The teaching of writing requires improvement. Planning is not systematic enough. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to apply their punctuation and grammar skills in extended pieces of writing as expected for their age. Therefore, they are not making consistently good progress.
• The teaching of mathematics is effective. Last year, leaders made it a priority to improve the teaching of mathematics. Effective training helped teachers to improve their practice. As a result, pupils are making good overall progress. Teachers do not, however, give the most able pupils work that challenges them to develop more advanced mathematical skills. This is limiting their opportunities to reach the higher standards.
• Teachers have high expectations for behaviour. There is a strong rapport between the adults and the pupils in classrooms. As a result, learning proceeds calmly and pupils work well together.
• Additional adults are generally deployed well in the classroom or in small-group teaching, such as in the nurture group. They provide support for pupils falling behind, as identified through regular assessment. This also includes support for pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, disadvantaged pupils and those who speak English as an additional language.
• Home-learning projects make a good contribution to extending pupils’ knowledge and skills. Over a period of time, they complete a variety of tasks. Examples seen in Year 1 include researching the biography of Andy Warhol and drawing in his style. Pupils also experience creating drums from recyclable products, and working with parents to choose and follow a recipe for baking.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Adults create an environment where pupils feel cared for. Pupils learn to respect all people and their views. They greatly enjoy participating in clubs and going on school outings to experience and learn new things. Adults encourage pupils to try new things without fear of failure. As a result, as pupils move through the school, they grow in self-esteem. Many pupils join the school with limited knowledge of English. They become articulate and confidently express their views.
• Pupils learn the basic concepts of democracy through the election and work of the school council. They learn the importance of contributing to the wider community, such as through activities to raise funds for the local food bank and other national charities.
• Pupils get on extremely well in this diverse community. They say, and parents agree, that bullying is very rare. They know that, should they have any problems, adults will help them.
• The family support officer provides much-valued help to pupils and families whose circumstances make them vulnerable. She works closely with a range of agencies in helping families deal with a variety of welfare issues, including housing and accessing medical facilities.
• Leaders have plans to further enhance pupils’ personal development. This includes a plan to deepen pupils’ understanding of current affairs in an age-appropriate way.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils are proud of their school. They behave well in lessons and support each other in their learning. They also behave well in less-structured parts of the day.
• Pupils supported in the nurture group are successfully helped to improve their behaviour.
• Pupils are very welcoming. They greet visitors and want to talk about their school and experiences. They are caring and help newly arrived pupils settle down quickly into their new environment.
• Rates of absence, including persistence absence, rose in the past few years. Leaders are working with parents and agencies to address some of the underlying causes. Their efforts are meeting with success and absence is now on a downward trend. Leaders are clear that they still have more to do to reduce absence further.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• For the last three years, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check was well below average. The school’s assessment information for current pupils indicates that this trend is likely to continue.
• The proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard at the end of Year 2 in 2016 in reading, writing and mathematics was well below average. In 2017, only overall outcomes in mathematics improved and were closer to the national average. This data is partly skewed by the fact that, in both years, almost one in 10 pupils joined the school during the key stage. Some late joiners arrive from overseas with poor English skills or no prior schooling. They generally did not reach the expected standard.
• For those pupils who attended the early years provision, the proportion reaching the expected standards for their age in reading, writing and mathematics in 2017 was similar to that found nationally. In 2016 and 2017, disadvantaged pupils reached similar standards to their peers. The proportions of the most able pupils reaching the higher standards from their early years starting points, however, were below average.
• Inspection evidence shows that not enough of the current pupils are on track to reach the expected standard in writing. Equally, in all three subjects, not enough of the most able are on track to reach the higher standard of which they are capable.
• Pupils who join the school after Reception, including those who speak English as an additional language, make similar progress to their peers. This is also the case for those who have SEN and/or disabilities, including those who receive extra support in the nurture group.
• Pupils who do not manage to catch up and reach the standards expected for their age start junior school academically behind their peers. However, pupils leave the school well prepared for junior school in terms of their personal development and positive attitudes towards learning.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Leadership of the early years requires improvement. Leaders have not been sufficiently ambitious to secure consistently strong teaching and children’s good outcomes. Leaders, for instance, do not yet have a full and accurate picture of the impact of phonics teaching this year. This is because they have not yet checked the progress children are making in their phonics knowledge and application. This includes for groups such as the disadvantaged children for whom the school receives extra funding.
• Most children enter the early years with skills below, and some well below, those expected for their age, especially in language and social development. Too few children are challenged and supported by strong enough teaching to make the necessary accelerated progress of which they are capable. As a result, the proportion of children leaving Reception with a good level of development and being well prepared for Year 1 is below average. This is because not enough have caught up and developed the skills expected for their age.
• The school’s assessment data shows that more than double the proportion of children entered Reception this year with skills expected for their age than last year. Nevertheless, leaders’ targets for the proportion to reach a good level of development at the end of this year are only marginally higher than that reached in 2017.
• The early years provision gives children a rich and motivating learning environment. They enjoy exploring the many opportunities that the stimulating resources provide.
• Children’s social development is good. Relationships between adults and children are very friendly. Routines are well established and this helps children settle quickly and well. Key workers support children effectively.
• Adults provide high levels of care and encouragement. This ensures that children feel safe, develop confidence and learn to be both independent and to work together. Behaviour is good. All the appropriate welfare and safeguarding requirements are met in the provision.
• Parents are very positive about the effectiveness of the early years provision and the quality of care and support for their children. They very much appreciate the staff’s ongoing support and the opportunities that adults provide to involve parents in their children’s learning and development.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 102006 Enfield 10037677 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Infant School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 3 to 7 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 320 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Brian Leveson Vivienne Sian Mainwaring Telephone number 020 8829 1100 Website Email address www.tottenhall.enfield.sch.uk office@tottenhall.enfield.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 24 September 2013

Information about this school

• Tottenhall Infant School is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium is similar to that found nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average.
• A below-average proportion of pupils have support for SEN and/or disabilities. The proportion of pupils who have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan is above that found nationally.
• The school has specially resourced provision for up to eight pupils who have SEN in the form of a nurture group for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. Pupils are withdrawn from class for part of the day and over varying periods of time, depending on their needs.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in 17 parts of lessons. Senior leaders joined inspectors during most of these observations.
• Inspectors looked closely at pupils’ work to inform further the judgements made about pupils’ outcomes and the quality of teaching and learning. Inspectors also listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors met with a group of pupils and spoke informally to other pupils in lessons and during breaks and lunchtimes. Inspectors also met with school leaders and other members of staff.
• Meetings were held with three governors, including the vice-chair, and with three representatives from the local authority. The lead inspector had a brief telephone conversation with the chair of governors.
• Inspectors examined a range of documentation, such as that relating to pupils’ attainment and progress, and minutes of governing body meetings. 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 35 responses to the online questionnaire for parents, which included many text responses. They also had informal conversations with parents in the playground. Inspectors took account of the views of 33 members of staff who responded to the inspection questionnaire.

Inspection team

David Radomsky, lead inspector Kirstie Fulthorpe Bola Soneye-Thomas

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector