Colegrave Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that pupils capable of attaining higher standards receive sufficient challenge across the curriculum.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher has created a culture summed up with the words ‘We aim for the stars and nothing less.’ Leaders firmly act on the principle that every pupil is capable of making outstanding progress if they are taught well enough and provided with the right support.
• All staff and governors fully subscribe to this vision, which has had a wholly positive impact on the school and its pupils. Leaders have raised expectations of what pupils can achieve, and pupils’ achievement has blossomed as a result.
• Senior leaders place great importance on improving the quality of teaching and building the skills of staff, including teaching assistants. They understand that improving the quality of teaching and learning is essential to raise standards. Performance management is used very effectively to help further improve teaching.
• Leaders at all levels know the school really well, because monitoring and evaluation are regular, very thorough and based on a wide range of evidence. Each works hard to drive improvements that are having a highly positive impact on outcomes for pupils. They check regularly on the effectiveness of their actions and make changes that are needed to improve things further.
• A thematic curriculum is very effective in capturing pupils’ imagination and providing both the stimulus and inspiration for deep learning. Pupils are very excited by the learning possibilities within the topics covered, which in turn results in much outstanding progress across a range of subjects. Nevertheless, leaders recognise that in some cases, pupils capable of attaining greater depth within the expected standard are not challenged as well as they might be.
• Leaders support pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development highly effectively. The ethos allows pupils to consider their own values along with others. As a result, pupils are very thoughtful and confident in sharing their considered views with a high level of maturity.
• Leaders use pupil premium funding and additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely effectively. Leaders understand the barriers to learning that these pupils face and target money carefully to ensure that it helps pupils to overcome them. Consequently, these pupils make outstanding progress across a wide range of subjects, including English and mathematics.
• The primary physical education and sport premium is used effectively to improve teachers’ skills and increase pupils’ participation in physical activity. There are also ample opportunities for them to represent the school in sports and games. This aspect of the school’s work has taken on a higher profile as a result of the deployment of a specialist sports coach.
• Pupils have a very well developed understanding of fundamental British values and how they apply to their lives. They show great respect for the many cultures and traditions reflected in the school’s population, and are extremely well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• The local authority has provided regular, effective support to help the school on its journey of improvement.
• The great majority of parents who expressed an opinion were positive about the school, saying that it is a caring place where pupils achieve well.
• Outstanding leadership of the additional resource provision has established a very special environment for pupils with very complex needs. As a result, these pupils thrive thanks to the excellent care and attention that they receive.

Governance of the school

• Members of the governing body have played an important role in driving forward improvements across the school. The ambition to continue to improve is very strong, and for the school to be the best that it can be.
• Governors often visit the school to check on all aspects of its work. Visits include observing learning and pupils’ behaviour, looking at work in pupils’ books and meeting with leaders. They regularly scrutinise pupils’ progress information and invite senior and middle leaders to report at governing body meetings. As a result, governors have an accurate view of the strengths and weaknesses of the school.
• Governors come from a good range of professional backgrounds, including medicine, finance, science and local government. They use their skills well to support the school; for example, regular work with the subject leader for science has led to clear improvements in the quality and impact of the science curriculum.
• Governors challenge school leaders effectively, for example by asking the headteacher for a detailed analysis of the impact of each of the strategies used to diminish differences for disadvantaged pupils. Governors also have their pulse on the quality of teaching across the school, using a wide range of evidence provided by the school’s leaders.
• One of the governors brings her experience in education and special needs to bear in supporting the work of the inclusion leader and the leader of the additional resource provision.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school has a strong culture of safeguarding because staff are vigilant in ensuring that all pupils are safe and well cared for. Staff receive regular training in all aspects of safeguarding and child protection.
• All staff place the highest priority on securing the safety and well-being of all their pupils. They understand the signs that might indicate that a pupil is at risk and are swift to report and note these. Staff take care to ensure that even apparently minor issues are recorded, as they might be used later to complete a bigger picture of wider concerns.
• The headteacher and her team leave no stone unturned in following up concerns over pupils. Leaders are unrelenting in their work with the appropriate agencies to safeguard those who are vulnerable. This includes safeguarding pupils against radicalisation and extremism, for which the school works very effectively with other local schools and the local authority.
• Leaders ensure that the right checks are carried out on adults who work in the school. Policies, procedures and record-keeping arrangements are all fit for purpose and ensure that pupils are kept safe. Records are detailed, thorough and kept securely.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teachers are very skilful in stimulating the fertile minds of pupils who come to lessons with a genuine thirst to acquire new knowledge and skills. This is partly the reason why teaching has improved significantly since the previous inspection.
• Staff implement whole-school policies around planning, teaching, assessment and marking consistently well. As a result, pupils know what is expected of them. Pupils told inspectors that their teachers’ feedback is very valuable as it helps them to make significant improvements in their work, especially in writing and mathematics.
• Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and ask pupils probing questions that make them think deeply. Teachers ask further questions to check that pupils have understood what they have been learning. Such ongoing assessment in lessons is a key strength of teaching at Colegrave; it also enables pupils to make better connections between their learning in different subjects.
• Teachers use a range of resources very well to enhance their teaching. Pupils use information on display around the classroom, practical resources, technology and dictionaries and thesauruses to help them to learn well. As a result, most pupils, including the most able, deepen their understanding and make very rapid progress.
• Phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) is taught accurately and very effectively in Reception and key stage 1. Pupils in key stage 2 are helped to build on their skills to develop a love for reading books. Staff have developed very effective strategies to teach key reading skills, such as inference and deduction. As a result, almost all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, enjoy better access to other areas of the curriculum.
• In all year groups, teachers promote skills in mathematics systematically, providing pupils with excellent opportunities to develop their mental and written skills. Pupils’ work is well matched to their needs and develops reasoning, thinking and problem- solving skills effectively.
• Teachers are very skilled at demonstrating and explaining different styles of writing. Pupils write at length and for a wide variety of purposes. Teachers encourage pupils to use ambitious vocabulary to make their writing interesting and provide pupils with opportunities to draft and edit their work. As a result, standards in writing have improved considerably across the school.
• While there is evidence of much challenge, teaching is not consistently effective in providing pupils with opportunities to work at greater depth across the curriculum. On these occasions, pupils capable of achieving higher standards do not make the maximum progress.
• Adults in the additional resource provision make a significant and positive difference to pupils’ learning. They do this by using the excellent range of resources available to stimulate the minds of these pupils and fire their imagination.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils speak with immense pride and genuine enthusiasm about their school. Pupils have a strong voice in this school and are outstanding ambassadors for the promotion of its values. They do this by living out the school’s vision that ‘Whatever a child’s mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.’
• Pupils enter the school at the beginning of the day with a sense of excitement and very well prepared to learn. Lessons are typically stimulating and thought-provoking. Play and lunchtimes are very well supervised. There is an air of harmony and happiness as pupils play together in the vibrant and enriched environment.
• The school provides many opportunities for pupils to take on responsibility, such as the school council, lunchtime helpers and fundraisers. The pupils told the inspectors, ‘We all have a role in making our school the best that it can be.’ Pupils have a particularly well developed understanding of rights and responsibilities and articulate these with confidence.
• Pupils say that bullying rarely happens in school, but that on the rare occasions that there are ‘fallings out’, adults deal with the situation swiftly. Pupils have a high level of confidence in staff. Records of behavioural incidents confirm this.
• Pupils know how to stay safe and to manage risk. Pupils say that they feel very safe and are well cared for. They told inspectors about their safety assemblies and the very useful practical advice and guidance they had received. Pupils feel listened to and trust adults who work with them.
• The school supports an ethos of harmony and actively prevents discrimination. Pupils can articulate the similarities and differences between different cultures and speak eloquently about valuing people’s differences.
• Pupils in the additional resource provision are extremely well cared for, for example when adults support them in changing their physical position. Rich resources are used to stimulate these pupils and they respond with joy and a sense of satisfaction.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct is exemplary. They concentrate hard in lessons and work with enthusiasm and determination. The transition between play and lessons is seamless because pupils are so enthused by their learning.
• Pupils of all ages play and work well together in this harmonious school. For example, in lessons and at playtimes, pupils share resources and include others kindly in their activities so that nobody is left out.
• Records show that there are very few incidents of poor behaviour, and if they occur, they are dealt with swiftly and decisively. The systematic and structured approach to managing behaviour has been very successful, resulting in no permanent exclusions over the past few years.
• Pupils’ attendance is improving rapidly and is now above the national average. Leaders and administrators leave no stone unturned to get pupils into school. The school works closely with other agencies to ensure that families receive the support they need in getting their children to school.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• In 2015 and 2016, pupils in Year 6 made outstanding progress in English and mathematics. In 2016, the proportion who attained the expected standard in the national assessments was in line with the national average in reading and writing and above in mathematics. Work in pupils’ books shows that this rate of progress is being sustained and accelerated.
• The school’s information about assessment shows that the majority of pupils in all year groups are making outstanding progress from their below-average starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. As a result, standards in these subjects are rising at a rapid pace. Pupils’ attainment in key stage 1 rose sharply in 2015 to broadly average in reading, writing and mathematics. This was sustained in 2016 and standards have risen further in the case of the current Year 2.
• The standard of work seen in pupils’ English, mathematics and topic books is particularly good across all year groups. Pupils have high expectations of themselves, as shown, for instance, by the consistency with which they respond to teachers’ feedback. Whatever the subject, pupils act on the advice and guidance given, and make very strong progress as a result.
• Disadvantaged pupils make outstanding progress because leaders and teachers monitor their progress thoroughly, and use the information to shape the next stages of their learning. In 2016, disadvantaged pupils made better progress than their peers nationally; this rate of progress is being sustained and accelerated in the current year.
• Pupils supported in the additional resource base, as well as other pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make very strong progress from their starting points. This is because leaders arrange training for members of staff to enable them to give targeted support to meet the needs of these pupils. Staff are meticulous in recording the very small steps that pupils in the resource base take on their individual progress paths.
• Pupils are developing their writing skills extremely well. They have excellent opportunities to write for different purposes and at length. They use grammar and punctuation carefully, and the voice of the author shines ever more brightly as they move up the school. The standard of pupils’ handwriting is high and their books are extremely well presented.
• Pupils enjoy reading. They enjoy the range of books available and read regularly in school, with most reading regularly at home as well. In mathematics, there are excellent opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding and sharpen their skills with problems and activities that require them to reason mathematically.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make very rapid progress, especially in key stage 2. This is partly due to teachers’ incisive feedback and planning, which ensure that pupils master specific topics and move on to new learning at the right time.
• In 2016, the proportion of pupils in Year 6 attaining greater depth within the expected standard in reading and writing was slightly below average. Although there are clear improvements this year, some pupils capable of achieving higher standards are not challenged consistently well across all subjects.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Leadership in the early years is outstanding. Leaders are highly skilled and motivated. They have developed a strong provision that is specifically targeted to meet the needs of all the children and celebrate all children as individuals. Leaders are committed to high expectations and have communicated a clear vision to staff and parents about what good learning should look like.
• Children enter Reception with starting points that are below what is typical for their age. Many have not had any experience of a pre-school or nursery setting. Children make very rapid progress throughout the year, and a larger proportion of children achieve a good level of development than the national average. As a result, children are very well prepared socially, emotionally and academically for the next stage of their education in Year 1.
• Staff make accurate, robust assessments and use these to plan careful next steps for children’s learning. Staff know their children extremely well and have forged strong relationships with all children. As a result, children are strongly motivated to learn throughout the day.
• Leaders and staff make incisive evaluations of what is working well and what is not. Where specific goals and targets are not being achieved, extra activities are quickly planned and provided to address this. Consequently, children make rapid and sustained progress from their starting points.
• Children’s behaviour is outstanding. Children work well together and are engrossed in their learning. They are highly engaged and inquisitive learners. This is because of the good emphasis that adults place on developing children’s personal, social and behavioural skills.
• The curriculum is stimulating and children are constantly busy. The outdoor area is highly resourced and adults consistently model good language development. Children thoroughly enjoy being a ‘Thinkodycus’ or a ‘Solveosaurus’ when thinking about how to solve a range of very enjoyable practical problems.
• Children’s safety, well-being and welfare are given a high priority. In the setting, the correct staffing ratios and qualifications are maintained, all welfare requirements are fully met and safeguarding practices are secure.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 102752 Newham 10001059 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 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 614 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Terence Paul Tahreem Hussain 0208 534 0243 www.colegrave.newham.sch.uk info@colegrave.newham.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 6–7 February 2012

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than the average-sized primary school.
• The school serves a diverse community, with pupils coming from a variety of different backgrounds. The largest groups are from Bengali and White Eastern European backgrounds.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average. The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is also above average.
• The percentage of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is higher than that found nationally.
• The school has an additional resource provision for 14 pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed teaching and learning in a range of lessons, year groups and subjects. They also looked at pupils’ work in books, records of children’s learning in the early years and other information about pupils’ attainment and progress.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read and held discussions with groups of pupils. Inspectors also talked informally with pupils around the school and in the playground.
• Inspectors considered the 40 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, as well as the 17 responses to Ofsted’s questionnaire for staff.
• Meetings were held with four governors, including the chair of the governing body. Meetings were also held with leaders responsible for mathematics, English, science, assessment and tracking, provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and for children in the early years.
• Inspectors met with a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors examined a range of documents. These included information about pupils’ attainment and progress, the school’s reviews of its own performance, checks on the quality of teaching and improvement plans. Inspectors also examined safeguarding documentation and various records of pupils’ attendance and behaviour.
• The inspection, deemed a section 8, was converted to a section 5 inspection at the end of the first day.

Inspection team

Nasim Butt, lead inspector David Lloyd Joy Barter Dawn Titus David Bryant

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector