Gordonbrock Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that teachers check pupils’ learning consistently, so that all pupils are challenged and moved on appropriately, enabling higher proportions of pupils to meet the higher standards.
• Ensure that all support staff are deployed effectively so that all pupils receive timely support which enables them to make progress in their learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Confident, dedicated and ambitious leadership has made Gordonbrock Primary School a highly successful school. High expectations and ambition are shared at all levels.
• Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s strengths and priorities for development is accurate. It is based on rigorous monitoring and analysis of different sources of information to check how well pupils are doing. This evaluation drives plans for further improvement, illustrating leaders’ determination and commitment to continuous improvement.
• When groups of pupils have not done as well as they could, leaders identify this swiftly and address the issue. As a result, where differences exist in how well pupils do, they are reduced quickly.
• The curriculum provides a range of stimulating opportunities for pupils to learn well in and beyond school. Leaders have recently reviewed the curriculum to heighten pupils’ understanding of knowledge and skills. Through carefully designed programmes of work and outcomes descriptors, leaders judge with greater accuracy how well pupils are learning across a wide range of subjects.
• Middle leaders are well supported and developed professionally. As a result, they make sound judgements and contribute well to the drive for school improvement. This assures the sustainability of the school’s success.
• Leaders have invested heavily in staff training. Staff feel that they are developed well as teachers and as leaders. They also say that leaders are attentive to their well-being and workload. They describe a constructive and collaborative ethos where dialogue between professionals is positively encouraged.
• School leaders work closely with parents and carers. The vast majority of parents spoken to during the inspection and who completed Ofsted’s online survey are effusive in their praise for the school. ‘The school creates a wonderful, nurturing community, where children learn to be kind to each other, considerate, and to genuinely respect difference and diversity,’ is typical of parents’ views.
• The highly effective leadership of provision for pupils with SEND is very responsive to individual pupil’s needs. Leaders, teachers and teaching assistants are well trained. As a result, pupils receive high-quality support which enables them to learn effectively and make strong progress from their starting points.
• The pupil premium strategy is highly effective. Leaders identify barriers to disadvantaged pupils’ achievement, both in and beyond school. From this they have planned appropriate actions to address these barriers. This has resulted in disadvantaged pupils achieving increasingly well.
• The school uses additional funding for sport well. Use of specialist coaches and targeted support for pupils has ensured that pupils’ participation in physical activities is high.

Governance of the school

• Governors are proactive in auditing their own skills and recruiting governors to the school with complementary skills. As a result, the breadth of knowledge and experience on the governing body provides a firm foundation for effective governance. Together with leaders, governors are ambitious in their desire to secure the very best for pupils.
• Governors know the school well. They are aware of their responsibilities in checking the work of leaders to make sure pupils achieve well socially, emotionally and academically, and that pupils are safe.
• Governors ask pertinent questions of school leaders because they receive detailed information from leaders, including external reports. They also visit the school. Governors participate in a wide range of training activities, which enables them to challenge school leaders appropriately.
• Governors take part in discussions to allocate additional funding and they keep a close eye on the effect it is having on pupils’ progress.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and are fit for purpose. Pre-employment checks on adults working at the school meet statutory requirements. All staff have regular and appropriate training. Staff understand how to respond to any concerns should they arise.
• Records show that referrals to outside agencies are handled in a timely manner. Leaders follow up referrals and requests for support so that no time is lost. This leads to swift support for pupils and families who need it. The curriculum has been carefully designed to support pupils’ awareness of keeping themselves safe. Pupils talk with confidence about fire, water and road safety, and keeping safe online. They show an appropriate awareness of the risks posed by gangs. Pupils know what to do if they ever felt unsafe and can identify a number of trusted adults in whom they would confide.
• The school is not afraid to address difficult subjects. Recent work has focused on gang violence, the risks of radicalisation and extremism and county lines. Staff teach pupils about potential risks to their safety and how to mitigate these.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• The school has a clear rationale for the teaching of English and mathematics. Teachers manage planning very well so that pupils’ learning is sequenced clearly and logically. This provides pupils with opportunities to build on previous knowledge and make strong progress. Pupils confidently explain where their learning fits with what has been learned before, and what they are working towards.
• Use of specialist teachers in subjects such as French, music and physical education (PE) ensures that pupils develop deep subject knowledge and skills in these subjects. For example, pupils were able to speak in full sentences in French, using a range of vocabulary and grammatical structures accurately when describing themselves and others.
• Teachers use assessment information well. They understand that pupils learn at different rates and from different starting points. Teachers’ detailed knowledge of individual pupils enables them to plan a range of appropriate learning activities. As a result, the majority of pupils receive the support and challenge they require to learn well.
• Teachers ask pupils questions highly effectively. Pupils explain their answers with real confidence, applying their increasingly rich technical vocabulary across a wide range of subjects. Pupils relish complex challenges and apply their knowledge to solve problems in less familiar contexts. In one lesson, for example, pupils confidently used what they knew about simple two-dimensional shapes to work out strategies to calculate the area of shapes such as parallelograms and trapeziums. Pupils typically acknowledge that ‘You have to be stretched to be able to learn.’
• Work in pupils’ books indicates that high-quality teaching has led to all groups of pupils, including those who are lower-achieving or disadvantaged, making rapid progress. However, on occasion, teachers do not always check that pupils have understood their learning. As a result, pupils sometimes repeat learning they have already done or remain in need of support to access the learning given to them. In these instances, pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.
• Teachers use homework effectively to consolidate pupils’ learning in a wide variety of subjects. Pupils are very clear how to improve their work because teachers have clarified with them what it is that they need to do to reach the clear outcomes they are working towards.
• In most cases, the accurate deployment of additional adult support ensures that pupils are very well supported in their learning. This enables them to succeed and make progress. Where this deployment is sometimes less precise, pupils struggle to access their learning and, as a result, make slower progress.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils’ attitudes to school and learning are overwhelmingly positive. Pupils are rightly proud of their school and the wide opportunities they have to learn and develop in and beyond school.
• Pupils are diligent and committed to thinking and working hard. Pupils work well independently and collaboratively. They sustain concentration and focus with real maturity. Adults foster strong relationships with pupils and ensure that routines are well established, consistently applied and thoroughly embedded. The highly stimulating environment throughout the school provides a powerful backdrop that radiates high expectations. Pupils’ outcomes across the curriculum are celebrated, as well as their personal achievements.
• Pupils proudly fulfil the wide range of opportunities to be responsible, which develops their leadership and other personal skills and qualities. These opportunities include formal roles such as school council, playground buddies and samba leaders.
• Pupils feel safe and secure in school. They understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy in and beyond school. Pupils understand different types of bullying and feel that if bullying occurs, staff sort it out quickly and effectively.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils are polite, well mannered, eloquent and welcoming. Outside lessons pupils engage well with the games and apparatus provided. Pupils play well together. They are well supervised outside lessons and say that they feel safe.
• Parents and pupils feel behaviour across the school is a real strength. Pupils are acutely aware of the school’s reward and sanctions systems and can explain confidently how those systems support all pupils to behave well.
• Pupils understandably love coming to school. After a small dip, attendance is now above the national average and compares favourably with national figures for groups such as disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Additional support and strategies aimed at pupils who miss too much school have a powerful impact. Pupils are rarely late.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Outcomes are outstanding because over time leaders have secured sustained improvements in the pupils’ achievement across the school.
• Since 2016, pupils’ progress in reading and writing by the end of Year 6 has been above average. Over the same period, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard in a combination of reading, writing and mathematics has been well above the national figure, resulting in pupils being well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Over time, a similar proportion have achieved the higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics as nationally. Leaders are prioritising this area of their work to increase the numbers of pupils reaching the higher standards in Year 6.
• In 2018, Year 2 pupils’ achievement at the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics was stronger than national averages. More pupils in Year 2 achieved the higher standards in writing and mathematics than did nationally, with a similar number reaching the higher standards in reading.
• Pupils use their phonics knowledge confidently and readily to read unfamiliar texts. Following a sustained and strongly improving trend, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standards in the Year 1 phonics screening check is well above the national average, with 91% of pupils reaching the expected standard in 2018. Pupils are highly motivated readers who read widely and often. They are able to summarise what they read well and discuss with confidence complex issues such as character motivation.
• Teachers ensure that pupils’ writing is developed and supported well across the school. Pupils’ work in books and on display around the school shows that pupils write at length and accurately, using a variety of interesting vocabulary. In mathematics, pupils spend time rehearsing basic skills until they are fluent. This fluency enables them to solve a range of increasingly complex mathematical problems. As a result, pupils explain and justify their reasoning with confidence.
• Leaders have recently refocused the curriculum in other areas to ensure that pupils develop a deeper understanding of subject-specific vocabulary and concepts. As a result, pupils use complex terminology accurately in a range of subjects, including science, history, geography, music and PE, in both their spoken and written work.
• High-quality work on display shows that pupils develop their art and design skills well. Work on LS Lowry, Henry Moore, canopic jars, vases and bridges illustrate pupils’ ability to design and make models to fit a specific design brief or to replicate the work of famous artists.
• From starting points in early years that are often lower than those of other children of similar ages, pupils make substantial progress. Consequently, the proportions achieving a good level of development and age-appropriate outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics have been higher than national averages for some time.
• Disadvantaged pupils do well compared to pupils nationally. Where there is a difference between the outcomes of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils within school, these gaps have been quickly identified and addressed by leaders. As a result, these gaps are closing quickly.
• Pupils with SEND make strong progress in relation to their starting points. This is due to meticulous tracking of these pupils’ progress and the diligence of the special educational needs coordinator and other staff members.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children get a fabulous start to their learning in the early years. Adults provide an inspirational environment for learning which is nurturing and secure. Adults quickly establish positive relationships with parents and carers, which helps children thrive and become successful learners.
• The early years leader has a real ambition for children to achieve well. She has a detailed and highly accurate understanding of the setting. She has ensured that the team know the children very well and design the areas of learning to meet their needs. This is having a visible impact on children challenging themselves more often and with greater confidence.
• The indoor and outdoor learning environments are designed to entice children into experiences that give them the knowledge and vocabulary to build a solid foundation in all areas of the curriculum.
• Teachers design exciting activities carefully to make sure that they support what they want the children to learn, whether the task is led by an adult or not. Teaching is very effective at setting appropriately high expectations for all. Adults ask well-chosen questions to help develop children’s language and challenge their thinking. For example, during the inspection, children were tracking down imaginary animals that had ‘escaped’ into the nursery garden. Children confidently drew on a range of vocabulary to describe the features of the missing animals, and the directions in which they might have escaped.
• Adults model and expect the very best behaviours. As a result, children engage very well across all areas of the early year’s environment. They are notably confident and proud to show off their classroom and their learning. Children make choices independently and sensibly, sustaining concentration well. Relationships between adults and children and between children are very strong.
• The majority of additional adults understand how to support individual children’s needs, and make a valuable contribution to their learning. They contribute well to the early years team. On occasion, when additional adults are less engaged, children are not as well supported as they could be to achieve.
• Safeguarding and welfare requirements are met very well.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 100684 Lewisham 10058837 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 648 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Executive Headteacher Head of School Telephone number Website Email address Peter Fidel Maria Gilmore Jane Wright 020 8291 6174 www.gordonbrock.lewisham.sch.uk admin@gordonbrock.lewisham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 16 January 2018

Information about this school

• The school is much larger than the average-sized primary school.
• Gordonbrock Primary School is one of two schools in The Eliot Bank and Gordonbrock Schools Federation. This is a hard federation formed in September 2013.
• The school has a much higher than average proportion of pupils from different ethnic groups.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is higher than the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND and the proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan are similar to national averages.
• The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium is similar to the national average.
• The early years consists of a Nursery class and Reception Year. The Nursery places are offered in flexible hours, up to 30 hours. There is no provision for two-year-olds.
• The school runs its own breakfast club but outsources after-school care to an alternate provider.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors gathered a wide range of evidence throughout the inspection. This included undertaking observations of teaching and learning in all classes and across a range of subjects. The majority of these observations took place alongside school leaders.
• Inspectors held discussions with senior and middle leaders, class teachers, teaching support and office staff. They met with staff with various roles in relation to safeguarding. Inspectors met with members of the governing body, including the chair, and the school improvement adviser from the local authority.
• Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of pupils’ work in English, mathematics and other areas of the curriculum. This work took place alongside leaders.
• Pupils’ behaviour was observed in lessons, during breaktimes and lunchtimes and in before-school clubs.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation, the school improvement plan, documents related to the monitoring and evaluation of teaching, learning and assessment, governing body minutes, school policies and documentation relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.
• Inspectors took account of the 174 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. They spoke to parents before school. No responses to Ofsted’s online staff and pupil questionnaires were received, but inspectors spoke to a substantial number of staff members and pupils during the inspection.
• Inspectors spoke to pupils during lessons, during breaktimes and lunchtimes, and in more formal meetings with older and younger pupils. Inspectors heard pupils read.

Inspection team

Nick Turvey, lead inspector Sheila Cohring Brenda Watson Nick Hitchen Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Brian Oppenheim Her Majesty’s Inspector