Oriel Academy West London Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Increase the rates of progress that pupils make, particularly those who are the most able and the most able disadvantaged, by:
  • analysing the progress that all groups of pupils make with more precision and in all subjects
  • identifying any underachievement and put in place appropriate and timely support
  • ensuring that teachers consistently provide the most able pupils with challenge and feedback to match their abilities.
• Ensure that leaders at all levels act on areas for improvement that are identified in self-reviews with more rapidity and depth in order to secure further improvements.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive principal of the school was on sick leave during the inspection. Nonetheless, the principal, assisted by other senior leaders, has ensured that the school remains on track.
• The leadership team knows the school well and what is required to improve it further. This knowledge is shared with senior leaders of the trust who are able to provide the school with additional advice, guidance and resources where appropriate. This approach has seen pupils’ progress increase over the last three years in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Leaders regularly monitor the quality of teaching and provide teachers with suitable feedback for improvement. A priority of the school is to increase the rates of progress that pupils make in their reading, particularly at the higher levels.
• Systems for tracking individual pupils’ progress are effective. Senior leaders meet with teachers regularly to check the progress that pupils are making in all year groups. These progress checks ensure that teachers are held to account for pupils’ progress. Appropriate support is provided for those pupils who are at risk of not making the progress they are capable of.
• The primary school physical education and sport funding is spent well. Pupils can take part in and enjoy numerous physical activities.
• The curriculum provides pupils with a wide range of interesting topics and subjects, including learning Spanish. The school promotes strong messages celebrating diversity and tolerance. For example, a prominent display of the beliefs and achievements of Black people throughout history supports pupils’ good understanding of the diversity of modern Britain.
• A range of visits and visitors supplement the curriculum well. In the recent past, for example, pupils have visited Hampton Court Palace, the Tower of London and opera and ballet productions.
• Senior leaders agree that the monitoring of how much progress different groups make in subjects other than English, mathematics and science is not fully developed. As a result, leaders are not able to gauge the different rates of progress pupils make in each subject.
• Senior leaders analyse the progress that individual pupils make in reading, writing and mathematics. They also look carefully at the progress that most of the different groups of pupils make. However, the monitoring of the progress of minority ethnic groups and the most able pupils is less rigorous. As a result, leaders are not yet challenging teachers robustly enough to ensure that suitably challenging work is provided for the most able and the most able disadvantaged pupils.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding effectively. Consequently, the progress that most disadvantaged pupils make is increasing in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the most able disadvantaged pupils, especially in reading, do not make as much progress as they are capable of.

Governance of the school

• The academy trust has ensured that senior leaders are supported and challenged routinely and effectively.
• The chief executive provides the school with insightful briefings of his findings, following classroom visits and meetings with senior leaders.
• The trust has commissioned external reviews which provide a helpful picture of how well the school is performing. However, some of the areas identified as needing attention have not been acted on swiftly enough, leading to continued inconsistencies in teaching.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The leadership and management of safeguarding are exemplary. The assistant principal’s leadership of safeguarding demonstrates a passion for and knowledge of the vulnerable families and their needs. She has gone the extra mile on several occasions to ensure that very vulnerable pupils with the most complex and challenging needs are well cared for and receive the support they require.
• The assistant principal and business manager have ensured that the checks on staff recruitment, the single central record and the training of teachers is up to date and meets the requirements of current government guidance.
• The school’s work with other agencies is coordinated in a highly effective manner to ensure the protection of pupils.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Pupils are able to write well because teachers explain and demonstrate different styles of writing. Pupils’ grammar is well developed. For example, pupils in Year 5 were writing descriptively, demonstrating their use of expanded noun phrases.
• Well-organised classrooms provide pupils with clear messages about the high standards expected of them. One of the aims of the school and the trust is to encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own learning. This was seen to good effect in a Year 4 class where pupils were choosing how to use dictionaries to improve their writing.
• Teachers skilfully involve pupils in assessing their own work and that of their peers. Pupils were seen in a Year 3 class giving each other feedback on how to improve their English work.
• Teachers provide appropriate structured support for those pupils who speak English as an additional language. This support helps pupils learn to speak, read and write English fluently.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported in lessons. The well-managed team of teaching assistants works closely with individuals and groups of pupils to make sure that their progress is at least the same as that of their peers.
• Fundamental British values are developed well during lessons. Pupils were observed in a personal, social, health and economic lesson (PSHE) discussing what makes a hero; British athletes of different genders and backgrounds were being used as examples.
• Teachers use their good subject knowledge to provide guidance and challenge. However, there are some instances where pupils’ misconceptions and mistakes are not identified quickly enough, leading to mistakes being repeated or progress being hindered. On occasion, the most able disadvantaged pupils are not provided with challenging activities and this slows their progress down.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils from vulnerable families and those with very complex needs are able to spend more time on their learning because they feel safe and cared for.
• Pupils are keen to learn and respond well to teachers and other adults around the school.
• Pupils take great pride in their writing. They enjoy writing at length about different topics.
• Pupils told inspectors that they have very few concerns about bullying and that the adults in the school would look after them if they were worried.
• In lessons, pupils collaborate well. Pupils are willing to help each other.
• Pupils know how to stay safe in the locality. They are very knowledgeable about online safety.
• Parents told inspectors that they were extremely happy with the way the school looks after their children. Many parents were very pleased with the way that staff made themselves available to discuss any concerns.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Parents are very complimentary about pupils’ behaviour in the school. They told inspectors how pleased they were with how the school looks after their children.
• At the start of the school day and end of breaktimes, pupils calmly and sensibly line up and promptly start their work.
• Pupils work with high levels of concentration and eagerness and are keen to complete tasks.
• The vast majority of pupils are able to manage their own behaviour. They are sensible and careful around the school.
• Pupils’ attendance is above average and punctuality is not a concern.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• At the end of key stage 1, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is above that expected nationally because of the good progress made from low starting points when they begin their school life.
• Pupils’ reading is very fluent and confident. There are high levels of satisfaction from parents regarding how the school involves them in helping their children to read.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress because of the detailed, thoughtful and supportive attention they receive. During lessons, additional support is provided by well-trained teaching assistants.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language are well supported to make good progress. There are a number of pupils who do not stay the full length of time in the school. When these pupils arrive, the school helps them settle in and start learning quickly.
• Most of the pupils who come from a wide range of minority ethnic groups make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. However, there are small groups of pupils in different year groups whose progress, especially in reading, is not as fast as that of their peers; for example, pupils of Indian heritage and White British boys.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, in key stage 2 do not make as much progress as their peers. They are not provided with work that challenges them frequently enough to increase the rapidity of their learning.

Early years provision Good

• Children are helped to settle into their school lives promptly and effectively. Positive relationships are established between the school and parents. Parents say that the quality of information about their children’s development and learning is good. Inspectors would agree with them.
• The indoor and outdoor learning environments across the Nursery and Reception areas are of high quality. Children play and learn eagerly and are guided effectively by adults.
• By the time children leave Reception, they are working at good levels of development that are higher than expected nationally. As a result, they are well prepared for Year 1.
• Those children who are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium funding make strong and rapid progress.
• Adults support children well through a good balance of instruction and questioning.
• At the end of 2015, children’s good levels of development were above those seen nationally, but there was a wider than expected gap between boys and girls. The boys’ level of development was noticeably below that of the girls. Although the numbers of children reaching good levels of development increased in 2016, the wider-than-average gap remained.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 140158 Hounslow 10019640 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 sponsor-led 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 457 Appropriate authority The local area board Chair Principal Telephone number Website Email address John Reece Elizabeth Linney 020 8894 9395 www.oriel-aspirations.org principal@oriel-aspirations.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• Oriel Academy West London is larger than most primary schools.
• The school is part of a group of schools run by the Aspirations Trust. The trust has schools in Poole, Bournemouth and Oxfordshire. The local district of schools consists of another local primary school and a secondary school in the London Borough of Hounslow.
• The two primary schools are led by a recently appointed executive principal. Each primary school is led by a principal. The principal of Oriel commenced her post at the start of September 2016. The vice-principal also started at the beginning of the school year.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than that seen nationally.
• The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium funding is much higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is around that seen nationally.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.
• In 2015, the school met the government’s floor standards (the minimum expected of pupil attainment and progress).

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors carried out a series of short, focused visits to classrooms and longer lesson observations in each year group. Many of these were with the senior leaders.
• Formal and informal discussions took place with senior leaders. The discussions were with the chief executive of the trust, the chair of the local area board, subject leaders and parents. A brief phone discussion took place with the executive principal.
• Documentation relating to the school’s website and safeguarding, including the single central record, was scrutinised.
• The schools’ self-evaluation, plans for improvement and the school’s analysis of pupils’ attainment and progress were assessed.
• Pupils’ work in different subjects was analysed jointly with the senior leadership team and subject leaders.
• Pupils’ behaviour in lessons, as well as before school and during break and lunchtimes, was observed by inspectors.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read.
• Inspectors took into account the 11 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. There were no responses from staff or from pupils to questionnaires about the school.

Inspection team

John Seal, lead inspector Edison David Rebekah Iiyambo

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector