Iqra Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that there are more planned opportunities for pupils to learn, in an age-appropriate way, about the range of protected characteristics covered in the Equality Act 2010.
• Further increase the opportunities for children to improve their language development in the outdoor space in the early years.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Leaders, including governors, have improved the school significantly since the previous inspection. Leaders at every level are highly ambitious for all pupils. The quality of education pupils receive is outstanding.
• The school is inclusive, welcoming and friendly. Pupils and staff, regardless of their cultural differences, gender or backgrounds, all talk with confidence and positivity about the school’s environment. Leaders have made being inclusive and understanding diversity central to the development of the school.
• Leaders and governors have ensured that their high expectations have become a reality. There is consistency across all aspects of the school’s work. The management of teachers’ performance helps secure high standards at the school. Staff are in no doubt about what leaders expect of them.
• Leaders ensure that teachers and supporting adults receive first-rate training. The quality of training provided has been particularly effective in helping teachers and supporting adults to be confident in teaching mathematics. Teachers new to the profession receive personalised training that meets their needs well. Leaders nurture supporting adults to encourage them to become teachers.
• The curriculum offers pupils a wide and diverse range of learning experiences, including art, music and physical education. Leaders complement studies of the Muslim faith with age-appropriate depth about a range of religions including Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. Pupils benefit from a rich range of visits, most of which relate directly to their curriculum studies. Pupils value these greatly and each class thinks about their learning from the visits by preparing a portfolio of reflections and photos detailing what they have learned.
• Leaders use additional pupil premium funding extremely well. Leaders monitor the impact of the funding carefully and make changes when needed. As a result, the attainment of disadvantaged pupils is either above or in line with that of other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics at both key stages 1 and 2.
• Leaders make sure that the physical education and sport funding makes a positive difference to pupils. Leaders’ decisions have ensured that more girls take part in swimming, and that pupils participate and learn from a wider range of sports activities such as gymnastics and rugby.
• Leaders manage the support and funding provided to pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities carefully. A major strength is the quality of support from additional adults. They know pupils well and have high expectations. Leaders have been particularly effective in working with parents. They have helped them to ‘come on board’ in identifying and supporting their children’s specific learning needs.
• Parents are highly complimentary about the school’s work. The number of replies to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, was low. However, inspectors met with parents on numerous occasions during the inspection. The school also surveyed a large number of parents in the summer term of 2017. Parents believe that their children receive high-quality teaching and that they are well cared for. Members of the parent council spoke about how the school provides workshops for them to learn about female genital mutilation and the risks of radicalisation.
• The school prioritises pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development. The school provides a wide and successful range of ways to do this, including Year 6 pupils who spoke confidently about life during the Second World War as a result of their studies of life at that time. Pupils spoke to inspectors about what they learned about a ‘Christian Christmas’ after their visit to the local church. Key stage 1 pupils spoke enthusiastically about the work of the artists they had studied. Pupils regularly fundraise to support charities. The school council is an active and valued group that enables pupils to understand democracy. Local and regional politicians visit the school to talk to pupils about life in modern Britain. Leaders are carefully considering how they can move forward with their SMSC curriculum to cover the full range of the protected characteristics in an age-appropriate way.

Governance of the school

• The governing body has supported senior leaders well. They provide challenge and support in equal measure. The support includes giving full backing to leaders on their curriculum developments, such as religious education and the investment in new technologies for pupils to use in their learning.
• The governing body takes their safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously. Governors have ensured that they regularly discuss how the school promotes fundamental British values. The governing body has also ensured that the ‘Prevent’ duty is an ongoing high-priority area. Governors support and encourage vigilance and training, particularly around female genital mutilation, radicalisation and extremism. The chair of the governing body also regularly checks that the school’s systems for ensuring that adults are suitable to work with pupils meet statutory requirements.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders, including governors, are well aware of the risks that face pupils in London and beyond. Leaders are proactive in their work around these risks. They work with a range of external agencies, including the local authority ‘Prevent’ and educational welfare teams, to ensure that pupils are safe. Pupils in Years 5 and 6 have benefited from external agencies coming to school to educate them on extremism. Pupils put forward a range of reflections on the extremism training, showing that they had thought carefully about what they had learned.
• Pupils feel safe at school and talk confidently, in an age-appropriate way, about how to keep themselves safe. They are particularly confident in talking about how to stay safe when using new technology. Parents feel that pupils are well looked after and are safe in school. The school’s work to educate parents on risks also helps them to understand their responsibilities to support the school and their children.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching across the school is highly effective. Teachers have excellent subject knowledge across the range of subjects that they teach. The training they receive, including their access to resources to support the wider curriculum, ensures that they are able to challenge pupils fully.
• Teachers ensure that the learning activities that they choose meet the range of needs of the pupils in their classes. As a result, pupils have to think carefully and deeply about their work. Additional adults provide high-quality support, including for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• The work that teachers give pupils ensures that they develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the subjects that they are studying. An example of this was seen in Year 5 geography workbooks. Pupils had used their research and literacy skills to produce convincing pieces of work including details about the population, transport links and economy of the south-east region in Britain.
• Teachers are skilful in their questioning. They do not give pupils the answers or move on when a pupil may struggle. Similarly, teachers ask pupils, including the most able, questions where they have to explain and/or justify their thinking. Pupils are also encouraged to ask questions whenever they are unsure. Overall, the way teachers use questioning is highly effective and helps pupils to fully develop their knowledge and understanding to a deeper level.
• Pupils are confident mathematicians. Mathematics teaching is of the highest quality. Pupils have regular opportunities to apply their reasoning and logic skills. They know and use a range of mathematical concepts to solve problems. The challenging work given to the most able pupils stretches their understanding.
• Teachers actively choose to plan activities that mean pupils may make mistakes or will show whether pupils have misconceptions about their learning. Pupils are not afraid of making mistakes. Teachers use these opportunities to help pupils ‘master’ their knowledge and skills.
• Pupils develop a comprehensive range of literacy skills. The school’s decisions about how pupils assess and edit their learning activities ensure that pupils take pride in their work, including their final pieces of extended writing. They write with confidence and accuracy. Inspectors saw this in a range of pupils’ writing across the school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Leaders have ensured that the inclusive culture of the school means that pupils treat each other with respect. Pupils understand a range of religions and cultures. They say that people should be treated the same regardless of their ethnicity, gender or religion. Boys and girls mix well together at playtime and work well together during lessons. Pupils report that bullying is rare and that adults are quick to react to any situations should they occur. Records show that bullying or discriminatory behaviour are extremely rare.
• Pupils are mature, friendly and resilient young people. They take advantage of opportunities to give back to their local community, for example in supporting charities. The school’s work on developing pupils’ understanding of British values, including the law, helps them to make sense of their role in shaping the world around them, including in their local community.
• The school council is an active one. Staff and pupils take it seriously. Pupils use their roles to make a difference, for example in choosing to spend money on purchasing resources for the playground. Pupils look after one another. For example, there is a small group of peer mediators who are well trained. They spoke confidently to inspectors about how they help pupils to resolve any differences.
• Pupils have an excellent understanding of staying safe online. They can talk confidently about a range of other ways of staying safe, including the ‘bike safety’ scheme in which pupils enjoy taking part. Pupils in key stage 2 spoke about their learning from a recent workshop on radicalisation. Adults know pupils well and are quick to spot and report any concerns in relation to a pupil’s emotional or physical well-being.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils have high expectations of themselves. They work very hard and need few reminders from staff to keep focused during lessons. Pupils, when asked to by their teachers, work well together. They enjoy learning. Any disruption to learning is extremely rare.
• Pupils behave sensibly and safely at all times. The playground and corridors are safe places. Pupils do not run or behave in a way where they could cause any harm to themselves or others.
• Pupils are confident and positive young people. They take great pride in celebrating their own and each other’s achievements for example, in assemblies, in their achievement folders and/or in talking about their work.
• Attendance has continued to improve. The level of persistent absence is well below the national average. The school’s systems are effective in monitoring pupils’ attendance.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• In 2016, pupils’ progress at the end of key stage 2 was significantly above the national average in reading and mathematics. Provisional outcomes for 2017 show that this has improved even further and that writing is also significantly above the national average. From average starting points at key stage 1, attainment by the end of key stage 2 is high in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2017, provisional attainment for combined reading, writing and mathematics was 93%. In 2016, it was 78%.
• Pupils at key stage 1 also attain highly. The proportion of pupils attaining a greater depth in reading, writing and mathematics rose sharply in 2017.
• Teachers have an expert understanding of teaching phonics. As a result, outcomes in the Year 1 phonics screening check are consistently high when compared with the national average.
• Disadvantaged pupils, over time, make progress either in line with or above other pupils nationally in reading, writing and mathematics at key stage 2. At key stage 1, their attainment is higher than that of other pupils nationally across all subjects. One reason why disadvantaged pupils achieve so well is because leaders monitor their progress carefully and change how they use school resources to diminish any emerging differences quickly.
• Current pupils, from their different starting points, make substantial progress across the curriculum. Pupils develop a deep knowledge and understanding of a wide range of subjects. Pupils develop their skills to help them become, for example, effective geographers, historians and scientists. Pupils enjoy developing their creativity, including in the arts. Pupils at key stage 1 were brimming with enthusiasm in talking about how they had used primary colours and concentric circles to model the work of the artist whom they were studying.
• There are no significant differences in the progress of different groups of pupils. The most able attain highly because they are challenged in their learning. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are extremely well supported in their learning. This includes the use of additional adults and strategies to help them become confident and engaged with the learning. Pupils who speak English as an additional language gain the skills and confidence needed to develop their speaking and writing.
• Pupils read with confidence. The expert teaching in phonics in the early years and key stage 1 means that pupils have well-developed reading skills. The organisation of reading across the curriculum means that pupils’ skills as they enter and move through key stage 2 continue to improve. As a result, pupils’ progress in reading is significantly above the national average.
• All groups of pupils are well prepared for the next steps in their education.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children join the early years with low starting points. Most are unable to speak or write any English. Leaders use a range of assessments, moderated by the local authority, to get an accurate picture of children’s different needs and abilities.
• The school uses a range of highly effective methods to get to know children well, including building excellent links with parents. Parents are heavily involved in the early years, for example in storytelling sessions.
• Leaders in the early years ensure that teaching balances the need to improve children’s communication and numeracy skills with the need to help them settle into their learning and socialise well with other children. Children become more confident as a result of the support and encouragement that they receive from all adults in the early years.
• Teachers and supporting adults are highly skilled and knowledgeable. They plan learning exceptionally well. They use their assessments to expertly adapt their teaching as children move through different activities.
• Staff are well trained, for example in supporting children who have more complex needs. This means that the support children receive makes a difference more quickly. Children are safe, healthy and happy.
• The early years is a highly stimulating and exciting environment. It covers all areas of learning, and encourages and supports children in becoming curious learners. Leaders agree that the outdoor area could have even more opportunities to support children’s language development.
• Teachers use a range of strategies to capture children’s interest and to help make teaching exciting. An example was seen in a session with a small group of children from Nursery and Reception who were working together on a ‘storytelling’ session. Teachers expertly used role play and story mapping to help the children understand and then retell the story. The children watched and engaged fully. They celebrated their achievements together at the end of the activity.
• Teachers and their high expectations ensure that children behave well. Children learn to share and work together. They respond quickly to adults’ instructions. As teaching meets their needs, children concentrate well and do not become easily distracted.
• Children make substantial progress during their time in the early years. Leaders monitor children’s progress carefully. Additional funding is managed well so that children from disadvantaged backgrounds catch up quickly. As such, there are no sustained differences in the achievements of different groups of children. Children are fully prepared for the next steps into Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 135614 Lambeth 10023745 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Primary School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Voluntary aided 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 229 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Jamaal Boakye Humaira Saleem 020 7622 3630 www.iqra.lambeth.sch.uk admin@iqra.lambeth.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 28–29 November 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Iqra Primary School is an average-sized primary school. It is a Muslim faith school. A section 48 inspection of the school’s religious education took place in June 2016.
• The school is a member of the Loughborough Federation of Schools. The school is not receiving any formal support from the federation.
• The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well above the national average.
• A significant number of pupils join the school’s Nursery and Reception provision unable to speak English. The overall proportion of pupils at the school who speak English as an additional language is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is in line with the national average.
• Most pupils who attend the school are from a Black African ethnic origin. Just under half the pupils on the school roll are girls.
• There are no pupils currently being educated in any off-site provision.
• The school currently meets the government floor standards which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress by the time they leave school.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited classes in all year groups, mostly accompanied by school leaders. Inspectors also reviewed a wide range of pupils’ books. Their review included a range of subjects across the curriculum, looking at pupils’ work, some jointly with the headteacher, to evaluate the quality of pupils’ learning over time. The lead inspector also listened to pupils reading and reviewed their reading records.
• The inspection team held a range of meetings with senior and middle leaders to evaluate the impact of their work. Inspectors also held meetings with the governing body, a representative from the local authority, teachers new to the profession, staff and different groups of pupils, including a group of peer mediators.
• The number of replies to Parent View was too small for a meaningful analysis. However, inspectors evaluated 87 replies to a recent survey of parents carried out by the school. There were no replies to the staff or pupil surveys. Inspectors met with a large number of parents over the course of the inspection.
• Inspectors scrutinised a variety of documentation provided by leaders, including internal assessment information for pupils in all year groups, leaders’ self-evaluation, improvement plans, curriculum plans, minutes of governing body meetings, attendance and behaviour information, a variety of school policies, the single central record of recruitment checks, risk assessments and a wide range of other information relating to the safeguarding of pupils.

Inspection team

Sam Hainey, lead inspector Jo Franklin Sir Robin Bosher

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector