De Beauvoir Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the rates of pupils’ progress so that all pupils and groups of pupils achieve their potential by:
  • fully embedding the improvements that leaders have made to teaching
  • making sure that activities in lessons meet pupils’ needs and prevent them from becoming disengaged
  • making sure that most-able pupils are consistently challenged.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by making sure that:
  • teachers’ assessment of what pupils already know and can do are used well to match work precisely to pupils’ varying needs and abilities
  • teachers’ use of ongoing assessment information helps them to plan activities that ensure that all pupils make good progress
  • leaders embed assessment practice across the school so that staff track progress rigorously and accurately across the curriculum, especially in key stage 2
  • expectations of what pupils can achieve are consistently high, particularly for the most able
  • further action is taken to ensure that disadvantaged pupils make accelerated progress from their starting points, and gaps between them and others reduce significantly
  • pupils in the early years engage in purposeful learning activities during the times when they choose what they play and learn for themselves, particularly those in the nursery.
• Improve leadership and management by ensuring that:
  • leaders and managers focus on improving progress rates for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities leaders at all levels use assessment information incisively to pinpoint how teachers need to provide challenge for the most able pupils leaders and managers monitor the impact of the curriculum on subjects other than English and mathematics leaders and managers evaluate the impact of the curriculum on the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• Over time, leaders have not secured effective teaching and outcomes. Pupils have not made good progress as a result.
• Leaders’ monitoring of the new marking policy is not as rigorous as anticipated. Through circumstances that are not always of the school’s making, such as staff turbulence, there has been some slippage in the planned actions for accelerated improvement.
• The tracking of pupils’ progress does not take sufficient account of pupils’ starting points. This results in previously high-attaining pupils not making progress in line with similar pupils nationally.
• Leaders have not tackled the underachievement of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities. This is also the case for disadvantaged pupils and the most able pupils. Although recent actions have resulted in some improvements, progress rates are not yet good.
• All leaders are new to their posts, and only a small number of teachers were at this school at the time of the previous inspection. Since September 2017, leaders have been developing teachers’ understanding of pupils’ progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. This is not yet resulting in pupils’ improved outcomes.
• The new headteacher is dedicated and committed to the school. She is held in high regard by most parents who made their views known to the inspector by text. One parent commented, ‘I have never regretted moving my children to this school. The new headteacher has ensured children have a calm and purposeful atmosphere in which to learn and succeed.’
• The school has started several initiatives to improve outcomes and progress rates. Many of these initiatives are at too early a stage to judge their impact. However, the focus on improving progress in reading is having some positive impact on outcomes in upper key stage 2.
• The federation provides effective training for all staff. This support has particularly empowered middle leaders, some of whom are new to the school, in their role to support and hold others to account.
• An assessment system is in place to check the quality of teaching regularly and accurately across all phases, and its impact on pupils’ achievement. This is now helping leaders and managers to pinpoint and address underachievement in teaching more effectively.
• The additional primary physical education and sport funding is used effectively. Governors know how the funding provides additional equipment for pupils in the playground and around the school. School leaders report the impact to governors regularly.
• Pupil premium funding is used well to support disadvantaged pupils’ academic and pastoral needs. It is also used to provide support to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils by providing funded breakfast and after-school support.
• The new curriculum is enriched through a large range of extra-curricular activities, including football and dance. This enables pupils to develop their skills in these areas in depth.
• The curriculum enables pupils to acquire skills in reading, writing and mathematics. However, its impact on the development of skills in the wider curriculum is inconsistent and sometimes limited.
• Similarly, the curriculum does not fully support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, pupils articulate their understanding of some types of bullying more readily than of other types. Pupils are aware of and have respect for different religions.

Governance of the school

• Over time, governors have not checked the school’s performance with enough rigour to hold the school to account effectively. They have not been clear enough that the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress have not been good enough.
• Local advisory board members visit the school to look at pupils’ books, along with staff and senior leaders. They talk to pupils about their experiences, survey parents’ views and check the school’s finances and arrangements for safeguarding.
• Local advisory board members are trained appropriately in safeguarding. The chair of the local advisory board, who is responsible for safeguarding, regularly views the school’s checks on recruitment to ensure that they are rigorous and fit for purpose.
• Members of the local advisory board are committed. They want to make the necessary improvements and use their broad range of skills and experience to good effect.
• Local advisory board members have a clear understanding of how the pupil premium grant and physical education and sport funding are used.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s record of staff and visitor checks is kept in appropriate order. The school has appropriate procedures for reporting staff concerns about safeguarding. Pupils’ records are well organised and show prompt and effective actions taken by leaders.
• Staff receive relevant training to ensure that they are knowledgeable about signs of abuse. Staff training is kept up to date.
• Leaders are quick to follow up on any concerns and put in place appropriate interventions. The safeguarding team builds effective relationships with families and outside agencies to ensure that pupils are kept safe. All staff and visitors undertake appropriate checks before entering the school.
• Leaders engage well with parents to ensure that pupils are kept safe at all times. Most parents confirm that their children are safe in the school. Similarly, most pupils say that adults support them when they have concerns. Case studies and records show that vulnerable children and their families are well supported.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Teaching over time has not been effective enough to enable pupils’ rapid progress. Expectations regarding what pupils can achieve are often too low, especially for the most able pupils. Consequently, many do not reach the expected standards.
• The school’s system for checking the progress that pupils make is not used consistently. As a result, teachers do not always provide work that meets pupils’ needs.
• Pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics is variable and inconsistent. Teachers do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to practise their skills and attempt challenging work. Pupils currently in Years 5 and 6 are making stronger progress than others in the school.
• Teaching is inconsistent. Assessment data is used inconsistently to plan; questions are not always probing or targeted well enough to identify precisely what pupils need to do to improve. This has resulted in some pupils making repeated mistakes.
• Disadvantaged pupils make less progress than other pupils nationally. Work is often too simplistic, and does not cater for the varied needs and abilities of pupils. Similarly, pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities are working below expected standards for their age.
• Teaching provides limited opportunities for pupils to work independently. In some cases, the most able pupils are not challenged or stretched to produce high-quality outcomes. This results in slower progress rates.
• Similarly, teaching does not provide enough opportunities for pupils to share their thinking. This limits progress for the most able. In too many instances, pupils do not make good progress from their starting points.
• Teaching does not always deepen understanding, knowledge acquisition and independence. This is particularly the case in subjects other than English and mathematics.
• Where teaching is effective, teachers demonstrate strong subject knowledge and effective use of assessment data to inform their planning for different groups. For example, in some Year 6 English lessons seen, the most able pupils were enthused and interested; they participated fully in the learning activity.
• The quality of support from teaching assistants is variable. A few have well-developed questioning skills and a good understanding of how pupils learn and develop. However, for some, their subject knowledge requires improvement.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare requires improvement.
• Leaders offer disadvantaged pupils funded places at the breakfast and after-school clubs. They are also offered funded places on school visits.
• Most pupils have positive attitudes to their school. They say that they enjoy coming to school. They enjoy the variety of trips and activities that the school organises for them.
• Pupils who spoke with the inspectors said that they feel safe, and that bullying is rare. They say there are huge improvements from how things were at the school in the past. They also say that, when bullying happens, adults deal with it urgently and prevent it from reoccurring. They are aware of cyber bullying and name-calling, but they are not fully aware of other types of bullying.
• Pupils generally show positive attitudes to their work. Staff support pupils to develop their self-confidence. Recently, this has reduced the number of pupils who struggle to communicate their concerns to adults, but this is not yet good enough. Pupils’ responses to the Ofsted survey show that some pupils remain concerned about sharing their views. On the other hand, parents reported that the school has enabled their children to flourish.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Some pupils are inattentive when the learning is not matched well enough to their ability. They sometimes lose concentration and do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Pupils are taught how to be polite and welcoming. They open doors for visitors and were eager to engage in conversation with the inspectors. Pupils feel that the school is safe and friendly.
• Pupils feel that the school is now free of bullying, but they acknowledge that this has not always been the case.
• Inspectors found that pupils behave well, even when teaching fails to inspire or engage them. On occasions when this happens, some pupils become less involved in their learning.
• Pupils’ behaviour has rapidly improved since the new headteacher took up her post. The incidents of poor behaviour are reducing quickly.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Over time, pupils have not made good progress. At the end of key stages 1 and 2, pupils’ attainment and progress have been significantly lower than the national averages.
• At the end of key stage 2, pupils who are eligible for pupil premium, including those who are most able, make inconsistent progress. Sometimes the lack of progress is due to poor teaching and on other occasions it is due to poor attendance.
• Pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities make variable progress. Books show that progress is particularly slow for this group of pupils. The school’s own data shows that these pupils are not performing as well as other groups in the school.
• The most able pupils do not make as rapid progress as they should. This is because teachers do not always challenge them sufficiently. Teachers often do not have high enough expectations regarding what the most able pupils can achieve.
• In reading and mathematics, pupils make variable progress. However, recent improvements in the teaching of reading and mathematics have demonstrated a positive impact for pupils in Years 5 and 6. This is evident in the way pupils interact and contribute in lessons. These changes are relatively new and it is too early to evaluate their impact on pupils’ achievement.
• Scrutiny of work in pupils’ books shows that progress in English and mathematics is too varied and inconsistent. Pupils’ attainment at the end of key stage 2 in 2016 and 2017 in reading, writing and mathematics was significantly below that of similar pupils nationally.
• In 2016 and 2017, key stage 1 outcomes in reading and mathematics were below national expectations, while writing was above national averages. Year 1 phonics screening check outcomes have been broadly in line with national averages. However, Year 2 phonics outcomes in 2017 were below national averages.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Leaders have not ensured that provision in early years is consistently good. This is particularly the case in the nursery.
• From their different starting points, not enough children make good progress. The proportion of children achieving a good level of development has improved recently, but it is still below national expectations.
• Leaders have improved the indoor and the outdoor environment. They have ensured that children in the early years can move easily between attractive and engaging activities.
• Teaching is inconsistent. It is stronger in the Reception class than it is in the nursery. Disadvantaged children’s phonics skills are not well developed because adults in the nursery do not have enough training to ensure that all children are fully challenged. This often hampers children’s progress in phonics.
• In the nursery, the children’s communication and language skills are underdeveloped on entry. Despite the range of activities provided by staff, children’s communication and language skills vary widely.
• In the Reception class, adults engage children in dialogue that develops language. Although children make some progress, the most able do not make the progress of which they are capable. This is also the case for children who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Staff work closely with parents to ensure that children settle quickly into the class. Parents commented on the warm and welcoming atmosphere.
• Welfare arrangements are effective. Staff diligently check the indoor and outdoor areas every morning to ensure that they are safe for children. Adults in early years are trained in paediatric first aid. All safeguarding procedures are effective.
• The federation has provided support in the Nursery and Reception classes. This has been, in part, effective in improving standards. However, children’s progress rates from their starting points are still too variable, and some children are not prepared for life in Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 100224 Hackney 10037667 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 304 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Louis Coiffait Rebecca Mackenzie Telephone number 020 7254 2517 Website Email address www.debeauvoir.hackney.sch.uk/ admin@debeauvoir.hackney.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 13–14 December 2012

Information about this school

• The headteacher was appointed in September 2016.
• The school joined the Primary Advantage Federation in April 2017.
• In 2016 and 2017, the school met the government’s floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress at the end of key stage 2.
• The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is above the national average.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.

Information about this inspection

• The inspectors observed learning in 31 lessons. These covered all classes in the school. The inspectors also made short visits to classes, most of which were joint observations with members of the senior leadership team. The inspectors also scrutinised many examples of pupils’ work.
• The inspection team held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders, governors, pupils and a representative from the local authority.
• The inspectors looked at a range of documentation, including the school’s development plan and its self-evaluation, policies and records related to safeguarding, and information about pupils’ behaviour and attendance. Inspectors considered a range of evidence related to governance.
• The views of 11 parents who responded to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. Inspectors also considered 14 parents’ views gathered at the school gate. There were 24 pupil responses and 15 staff responses received. Inspectors also considered the school’s own parents’ survey.

Inspection team

Maureen Okoye, lead inspector Rani Karim Kanwaljit Singh

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector