Reay Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• In the early years provision, make sure that as many activities as possible capture the children’s imagination and enable them to learn in a stimulating and creative way.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher has inspired staff, pupils and governors with an energetic can-do spirit. This is summed up in the school’s philosophy, applicable to adults as well as children, that ‘there is no full stop to learning.’ A typical comment from one parent was, ‘The head has brought in positive and good ideas.’ As a result, the school has improved considerably since the previous inspection. The school is well placed to sustain its upward momentum.
• Teaching has improved since the previous inspection. This is because leaders manage its quality exceptionally well. Leaders observe the teaching frequently, offer valuable advice and look carefully at pupils’ workbooks to ensure that standards remain high. Teachers understand the high standards expected of them. Leaders encourage staff to be bold and to take risks that will benefit their pupils. As a result, they successfully meet the challenge of teaching pupils with a wide range of needs and abilities within the same class.
• Senior and middle leaders support teachers extremely well. This enables teachers to teach successfully and pupils to make outstanding progress in their learning. Particularly effective support is provided for new and inexperienced teachers. This ensures that the teaching is consistently high in quality.
• Leaders carefully check the progress of each pupil and of groups of pupils, such as the most able, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. They put in place extra support for any pupil or group of pupils at risk of falling behind. The support is carefully checked to make sure that it is working successfully. As a result, pupils make extremely strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics. All groups of pupils make extremely strong progress.
• Leaders and governors make highly effective use of the additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils and for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They keep a close watch on the uses to which the funding is put and ensure that it succeeds in raising pupils’ achievement. Disadvantaged pupils throughout the school, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make much more rapid progress than other pupils nationally. This is also the case for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Leaders and governors make exceptionally good use of the additional government funding for primary sports and physical education. They introduced new sports such as dance or cricket, voted for by pupils, which were successful in attracting new participants. Leaders ensure the sustainability of the funding by encouraging sports coaches to share their skills with class teachers, so that they too can deliver high-quality sports teaching.
• The curriculum is a particular strength of the school. It is stimulating and creative, ensuring that pupils are engaged and learn with enthusiasm. Pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills are promoted exceptionally well. The school’s well-planned, cross-curricular, topic-based approach to learning makes excellent use of pupils’ natural curiosity. This encourages pupils to think deeply about the world around them and promotes the highest-quality learning.
• The curriculum fosters pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well. For example, pupils love singing together and this promotes their sense of belonging to the community. The wide and challenging spread of songs they tackle, from traditional ballads to American spirituals, gives pupils insight into different aspects of life.
• The school promotes British values extremely well. For example, assemblies encourage pupils to think about how they can ‘do their bit’ for the environment by becoming eco-monitors. Displays of pupils’ work around the school show that pupils reflect on Britain’s place in the world and how democracy works.

Governance of the school

• Governors are highly effective in helping to drive forward improvements by:
  • checking the work of the school for themselves
  • challenging leaders to aim even higher, for example by asking leaders to plan as ambitiously for the modern foreign languages curriculum as they do for other subjects, which has resulted in the delivery of high-quality language teaching
  • ensuring that they secure excellent value for money, with a tight link between the money spent and its impact on pupils’ progress
  • keeping children safe by constantly updating their own training and undertaking frequent checks on safeguarding procedures.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school. All adults are alert to any possible risk to pupils. Records are detailed and of high quality. Adults and governors are trained in spotting any potential safeguarding concern. Those who work with children are carefully checked. Leaders work closely with the local authority to ensure that any children referred to it get the support they need. The headteacher checks up on every referral made to the local authority and, in her words, ‘never lets it go’.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is outstanding because adults expect pupils to learn really well and pupils rise to the challenge. For example, in one stimulating Year 6 English lesson, pupils learned high-quality debating skills. They were encouraged to speak clearly and confidently. They were then successful in communicating sophisticated ideas to their fellow pupils.
• Teaching gives pupils an extremely good grounding in reading, writing and mathematics. Reading is a particularly high priority. Pupils who read aloud to inspectors spoke of the successful impact of initiatives to enthuse them about reading, such as providing inviting areas for them to settle into with a book. There are successful links with parents. Pupils are encouraged to read at home as well as at school. As a result, Reay pupils in 2016 were in the top 10% in the country for progress in reading.
• The school promotes outdoor learning wherever possible and this engages pupils’ interest and makes learning memorable. For example, in one Year 2 mathematics lesson, pupils learned to calculate using arrays (columns and rows of numbers). While some worked successfully indoors using pencil and paper, other pupils, who needed more tangible objects to help them, arranged their arrays with pebbles they gathered in the garden. As a result of the skilled use of outdoor learning, pupils make very good progress.
• The highly trained teaching assistants and additional adults in the classroom enable pupils to learn extremely well. They provide focused support to pupils with different needs and levels of ability, enabling them to make excellent progress in line with others.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils are confident, polite and helpful to adults and to one another. The school is a happy and harmonious environment, where pupils respect those of all heritages and faiths. This is recognised by parents. A typical comment from one was, ‘The school is inclusive and celebrates difference, such as in International Day.’
• The school takes great care of pupils’ physical and emotional well-being. Lunches are healthy, with a salad bar as standard. Adults ensure that the parents of pupils who have particular dietary requirements are fully consulted and involved in their children’s dietary planning. Pupils who spoke to inspectors told them that their emotional needs are successfully met. Pupils feel cared for by all the adults. If they have any worries, they know whom to turn to and are confident that their concerns will be acted upon.
• Pupils are safe at the school. Those who spoke to inspectors said that they appreciate safety talks, for example assemblies on e-safety. The school teaches them to beware of potential dangers from talking to strangers or crossing the road.
• Pupils understand what bullying means and the different forms it can take, such as cyber bullying. They told inspectors that there is no bullying at the school. Occasionally a pupil might say something unkind to another but, in the words of one pupil, ‘It’s only when they get a bit excited about something.’

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils love learning. One pupil explained this to an inspector as, ‘We have so much fun, but at the same time teachers slip in the learning.’ Pupils listen attentively to adults and when other pupils are talking, not wanting to miss a word.
• The school places great emphasis on the self-regulation of behaviour. For example, in a key stage 1 assembly, pupils were encouraged to understand why it was sometimes important to give things up, such as for Lent. Pupils control their own behaviour in and around the school. They pay close attention in class and in gatherings. Playground behaviour is considerate. Pupils keep their school tidy. They show their pride in their work by keeping their workbooks neat and well presented.
• Attendance is above average and persistent absence is lower than average. In 2016, persistent absence among pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities was higher than average. On investigation, inspectors found that absences among these pupils had been primarily for medical reasons, and that their current attendance is in line with that of other pupils.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Outcomes for pupils are outstanding because pupils in all year groups across a range of subjects make extremely rapid progress in their learning.
• Pupils are prepared extremely well for the next stage of schooling. Pupils leave Year 6 with above-average attainment in grammar, punctuation and spelling. Because of the school’s high expectations for pupils of all ages, pupils’ attainment in literacy and numeracy throughout the school is very strong. Pupils attain very well in the Year 1 phonics screening check.
• Published information shows that Year 6 pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics accelerated to become more rapid than the already good rates of progress in 2015. School information on current Year 6 pupils indicates that pupils’ progress is more rapid still. A scrutiny of pupils’ workbooks in all year groups confirms that pupils make extremely fast progress in reading, writing and mathematics. For example, Year 6 English workbooks cover such topics as Robert Frost’s poetry, current affairs, ‘Macbeth’ and a study of how the Mayans would have appeared to the Spanish conquistadors. Pupils tackled these challenging tasks with enthusiasm and were inspired to make extremely rapid progress.
• The individual approach taken by the school to the progress made by each pupil ensures that none falls behind. Adults carefully check the quality of additional support offered to pupils, and this ensures that all make rapid progress.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make the same rapid progress as other pupils at the school and much faster progress than other pupils nationally.
• Pupils who speak English as an additional language make outstanding progress because the school provides highly effective support for them from the time they arrive at the school. This support ensures that these pupils, who speak a wide variety of languages at home, are able to catch up quickly.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are given exemplary support, enabling them to make rapid progress and attain as well as they can. Parents of pupils who have additional needs praised the support they and their children receive. A typical comment from one parent was, ‘Staff have been highly attentive to my child’s needs, even when they have to go above and beyond their job roles.’

Early years provision Outstanding

• The early years provision is a warm and nurturing environment where children learn extremely well. Parents strongly support the school and are fully involved in their children’s learning. Home-school links are excellent.
• The provision is extremely well led by leaders at all levels. Their self-evaluation is robust and plans are clear and focused on continual improvement.
• Leaders effectively train all the adults in using questioning to encourage the children’s speaking and listening skills. This has proved very successful. For example, children studied the stumps of trees in the early years garden and were asked to consider whether they could ever grow again. One child commented, ‘If they grow, we’ll have to chop them down again.’
• The proportion of children who leave the Reception class with a good level of development has been rising for several years and is now well above average. A particular success story for the early years provision is the highly effective use of the additional funding for the early years pupil premium to boost the learning of these children. They now make the same rates of progress as the other children, and are on track to gain a good level of development.
• Children are safe and secure in the caring environment of the early years provision. Children behave extremely well because adults patiently help them to share and take turns when using the resources. Lunchtime provides a good opportunity for children to socialise and learn independence, for instance in cutting up their own food and only asking for help when they need it.
• Teaching by all the adults is extremely strong. Adults provide a wide range of activities for the children, planned to promote their language, number and social skills. For example, in one outdoor activity, a group of children had written out a line of numbers on a long sheet of paper on the ground. The adult encouraged them to take jumps along the line. The children found that if they started their jump on number eight and jumped three steps, they would land on number eleven. Such activities make learning enjoyable and memorable for the children.
• The school has a stimulating garden area, used by all the school but particularly by the early years provision. Parents praise the outdoor learning. A typical comment from one was, ‘The opportunity to do activities in the outside space is especially appreciated, given that we live in the middle of a large city.’ This emphasis on outdoor learning illustrates the school’s commitment to providing children with the widest possible range of experiences.
• Most activities have a strong appeal to the children’s imagination and stimulate them to be creative. For example, children were absorbed in painting pieces of fabric for their butterfly wings in readiness for ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, a show they would soon be putting on for their parents and carers. Occasionally, however, the activities are less stimulating and provide fewer opportunities for children to be creative and to engage in conversation with adults. On these occasions, children tend to lose concentration and learn less well.
• The school prepares children extremely well for entering Year 1. They have already acquired strong literacy and numeracy skills, and have established the habits of learning that will stand them in good stead as they move into the main school. Transition arrangements are extremely well thought out. Adults discuss the children’s aptitudes and needs. The children visit their new classroom to familiarise themselves with it. They are able to move confidently to the next stage of their schooling.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 100634 Lambeth 10023699 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 Community 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 248 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Caroline Harrison (co-chair), Joanna Harrison (co-chair) Caroline Andrews 020 7735 2978 www.reay.lambeth.sch.uk admin@reay.lambeth.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 19 June 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Reay is a little smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• The headteacher took up her post in September 2014.
• The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is much higher than average.
• The proportion of pupils who are from minority ethnic backgrounds is higher than average. Pupils come from a wide variety of heritages. An above-average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average.
• Children’s attendance in the Nursery class is flexible. They can attend morning or afternoon sessions, or stay all day. Reception children stay all day.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• This inspection began as a one-day inspection, the purpose of which was to ascertain whether the school remained good and whether safeguarding was effective. It became clear during the day that more evidence was needed before final judgements could be made. The lead inspector was therefore joined on the second day by two team inspectors.
• Inspectors visited classes throughout the school and observed pupils’ learning in a range of subjects. The headteacher and the deputy headteacher joined inspectors on most of their classroom visits.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of pupils, listened to them read and looked at samples of their work. An inspector met a group of key stage 2 pupils to hear how they felt about the school. There were no responses to the Ofsted online survey of pupils’ views.
• Meetings were held with leaders, including those who hold responsibility for specific subjects.
• The lead inspector held a meeting with the co-chairs of the governing body and five other governors. Four governors attended the final feedback meeting.
• The lead inspector held a telephone interview with the school’s improvement partner, a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors spoke to a number of parents during the inspection. There were 60 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, including 20 comments. Inspectors took all these responses and comments into consideration.
• Inspectors took into consideration 21 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire for members of staff.
• Inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documents. These included minutes of meetings of the governing body and external reviews of the school by the local authority. Inspectors looked at documents relating to the school’s evaluation of its performance and discussed these with leaders.
• Inspectors considered a range of evidence of pupils’ attainment and progress. They also examined safeguarding information, and records relating to attendance, behaviour and welfare.

Inspection team

Natalia Power, lead inspector Julian Grenier Denise James-Mason

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector