Alfred Salter Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership by ensuring that: governors hold the leaders to account for pupil standards across the school middle leaders have the skills to identify and rapidly address weaknesses in teaching leaders provide effective training for teachers to assess pupils’ achievement accurately.
• Improve pupil outcomes by: ensuring that teachers’ feedback to pupils gives them clear guidance on how to improve their work raising levels of expectation so that all pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils, make better progress.
• Improve the early years provision by making sure that adults are clear about how to provide engaging and challenging activities for children, and to give more definite opportunities for learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Requires improvement

• The recently appointed headteacher has a clear vision and a determination to move the school forward. She has quickly gained the confidence of the school leaders. The school now has a strategic plan to build capacity for improvement in the leadership team. There is now a developing culture for ambitious targets to improve standards.
• The senior leadership team had correctly identified priorities for improvement. However, measurable milestones and timelines to assess impact are not sharp enough. As a result, inspection evidence did not support the school’s assessment that the school remained good.
• Middle leaders have the skills and training to improve standards in their subjects and to support less experienced teachers. However, they have not been given enough time to work on school improvement for this work to have a successful impact on outcomes.
• Leaders use a range of evidence to monitor and evaluate the work of teachers. This information has not been used rigorously enough to address weaknesses in teaching. Consequently, this has resulted in the historical inconsistencies in pupil progress.
• Performance management is linked to teaching, but objectives have not been sharp enough to secure good teaching across the school.
• The school’s theme-based learning is rich and stimulating. The curriculum provides the pupils with opportunities to develop the skills required to prepare them for life in modern Britain. The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. The school promotes ‘One School, One Community’ effectively. Parents say that the school is a happy place for children to be. Parents value the wide variety of trips that the school offers to enrich the curriculum.
• Pupil premium spending has been used to improve the progress of disadvantaged pupils and diminish the difference between them and other pupils nationally. This has been more successful for the most able disadvantaged pupils, who achieved as well as other pupils nationally from similar starting points.
• School leaders’ allocation of sports funding is spent on developing teaching skills through training. It is also being used to offer more sports clubs to develop pupils’ understanding of a healthy lifestyle. This has improved the attendance at extra-curricular sports clubs.
• Teachers new to the profession are receiving appropriate support from the school. They attend local authority training and they have a clear understanding of the school’s safeguarding procedures.
• Parents recognise the school’s strong approach to safeguarding their children. The school staff are vigilant in ensuring that pupils are kept safe in school.
• Leaders have secured improvements for those pupils with persistent absence through effective monitoring of the systems to encourage regular attendance at school.
• The local authority worked alongside the governors to successfully secure the appointment of the new headteacher. They have supported the new headteacher in linking Alfred Salter Primary to a local outstanding school. This provides additional help to develop strategies for school improvement.

Governance of the school

• The governors have maintained the confidence of the school community thorough a period of transition. This is because of the strong relationships with the staff and parents.
• Governors do have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance. However, they recognise that the information has not been used rigorously to hold the school to account for any weaknesses in pupils’ progress and the quality of teaching.
• The governors know how the pupil premium is spent and that it has diminished the difference for the most able disadvantaged pupils by the end of key stage 2. They are also aware of how the sport premium is spent and the positive impact it has had on the professional development of teachers.
• Governors are firmly behind the new headteacher’s clear plan to build the leadership capacity needed to improve the teaching across the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school ensures that the required checks are made when recruiting staff. School leaders, including governors, regularly check the school’s single central record for accuracy. Training is up to date for all staff, including for the ‘Prevent’ duty, female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation. The site is well maintained and secure.
• Parents are confident that the school’s systems keep their children safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Since the previous inspection, the quality of teaching has declined. Instability in staffing has contributed to this variance in teaching. In addition, leaders’ actions have not been swift enough to tackle weaker teaching.
• Teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are not consistently high enough across the school to secure good progress for all pupils, particularly in reading.
• Work is not always sufficiently challenging for pupils. Progress across key stage 2 in writing and mathematics is average. When pupils are not involved in their learning it leads to less effective behaviour for learning. This results in a lack of pupil engagement in lessons and can limit progress for pupils.
• In some lessons teaching assistants are deployed well to ensure that identified pupils make better progress. However, teachers are not typically making the best use of adults in all classes. Consequently, pupils’ learning is not being consistently well supported.
• School leaders have not ensured that the system for pupil feedback is used effectively across the school. All teachers do not consistently address mistakes in pupils’ writing. As a result, pupils’ work is not improving fast enough to meet age-related expectations.
• The school has been successful in improving the reading skills of pupils who speak English as an additional language. The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, are able to read fluently and discuss their author preferences. However, the teaching of reading is not secure across the whole school. Consequently, progress for groups of pupils who are expected to meet national expectations by the end of key stage 2 is less secure.
• Leaders have reviewed the planning and teaching of reading skills and now the lessons are better structured and texts more challenging for all pupils. It is too early to evaluate the impact on improving progress for pupils who are not on track to meet age-related expectations.
• The school’s inclusion team supports pupils who may have special needs and/or disabilities across the school well. The special needs coordinator has a clear overview of the impact of the team of additional adults. Consequently, these pupils make better progress from their starting points and play a full part in the school’s activities. Parents speak highly of the level of care and guidance that their children receive.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school. They respond well to all the staff and to each other. They can talk about the support their teachers give them and their families.
• Pupils understand the system for sharing their concerns with staff and say that any disputes are dealt with quickly. As a result, they feel safe and know that they are cared for while in school.
• Pupils work and play well together. The school promotes a strong ethos of tolerance. Consequently, relationships between pupils and all staff are positive across the school.
• Parents and pupils say that bullying is rare and the school deals with any concerns; staff follow school policies effectively. Pupils talk with good understanding about different types of prejudicial behaviour, including racist and homophobic bullying.
• Pupils are clear in their understanding of personal safety. They are taught to identify risks online and how to keep themselves safe.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Conduct of pupils is good around the school and they are able to self-regulate in the playground at breaktimes.
• The behaviour system is clear and pupils are able to talk about how rewards and sanctions are applied by the teachers. Pupils are confident and demonstrate positive behaviours. The pupils say that not all teaching is as challenging as it could be. This leads to some low-level disruption sometimes, which interrupts learning.
• Leaders have undertaken regular analysis of pupils’ attendance. This analysis is used to identify those families that require support. Parents receive information on school attendance and there are incentives for pupils to reward being at school regularly. This has had a positive impact on the school’s attendance, which is now above the national average.

Outcomes for pupils Require improvement

• Since the previous inspection, school leaders have developed a system for assessment of pupil progress following the national initiative to move away from assessed levels. Senior leaders monitor progress to ensure the support and challenge required so that more pupils meet or exceed the national standard by the end of key stage 2. This system had not been embedded across the school in time to have an impact on the 2016 outcomes. It is now being used more effectively to identify the pupils at risk of not meeting the end of year expectations across the school.
• The school’s concentration on improving the teaching of mathematics has resulted in outcomes in line with national expectations. The progress in writing is in line with the national average. However, leaders recognise that inconsistencies in the quality of teaching in the past across year groups account for the lower academic achievement in reading.
• The use of pupil premium spending ensured that the proportion of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, attaining the higher levels in writing and mathematics was in line with similar pupils nationally. This was less evident for the progress of other groups, including disadvantaged pupils.
• Teachers’ expectations for outcomes in books are inconsistent. Handwriting is variable and pupils’ basic skills are not secure enough across the school.
• Pupils make more progress when work is adapted to challenge at a greater depth. This means that pupils do not always make fast enough progress to meet age-related expectations by the end of key stage 2.
• Improvements in the teaching of phonics mean that pupils can apply their phonics skills more accurately when reading unfamiliar words. The number of pupils achieving the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 has improved over time. The most recent results are above the national average.
• The inclusion of pupils who may have special needs and/or disabilities is strong. Their progress is at least in line with, or better than, that of other pupils nationally from the same starting points. This is due to the school’s awareness of their needs and effective support provided.
• The pupils who arrive with no prior experience of the English language make strong progress. This is a result of the effective support the school gives the pupils and their parents on arrival.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• The recent high turnover of staff in the early years setting has led to inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. Teaching has not sustained good progress for children since the last inspection.
• Children enter the Nursery Year with skills and abilities below those that are typical for children of their age. They do not make as much progress across the early years as other children nationally from the same starting points.
• The attainment of children by the end of their Reception Year in 2016 was below national averages.
• Leaders’ expectations for what all children can achieve have not been high enough. There is a lack of challenge for the most able children in the setting.
• Adults have not focused enough on the accurate tracking of children’s learning. This has led to too many missed opportunities to develop children’s learning.
• The children’s basic skills are below those of other pupils from the same starting points. This means that preparation for their transition to Year 1 is not as good as it could be.
• The environment is busy and well resourced. There is a happy atmosphere and children work well together.
• Parents are positive about the care given by the staff in the early years. They say that their children settle quickly and the staff are very supportive. Relationships between parents and staff are strong.
• The headteacher understands the challenge that children require to make better progress. Her support of the early years has already shown some impact in increasing the progress made by children.

School details

Unique reference number 100819 Local authority Southwark Inspection number 10008711 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 Maintained Age range of pupils 3 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 455 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Elaine Garlick Headteacher Eleanor Prestage Telephone number 0207 252 3676 Website www.alfredsalter.com Email address office@alfredsalter.southwark.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 17 18 October 2011

Information about this school

• Alfred Salter is larger than the average primary school with a diverse mix of pupils.
• A third of pupils are White British.
• The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is above average.
• The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups and with English as an additional language is also higher than average.
• While the number of pupils who may have special needs and/or disabilities without an education, health and care plan is lower than national average, the percentage of pupils supported by an education, health and care plan is higher than the national average. These pupils have a wide range of needs, including physical disabilities.
• The school met the current government floor standards in 2015.
• The new headteacher joined the school in September 2016.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed lessons in each year group, including in the Nursery and Reception classes. Many were jointly observed with school leaders.
• Pupils’ work in a range of subjects was scrutinised.
• Inspectors listened to pupils reading from Years R, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
• Inspectors looked at behaviour at break and lunchtimes, including in the dinner hall.
• Discussions were held with senior leaders, governors, a representative from the local authority, subject leaders, parents and pupils.
• A range of documentation and school policies was looked at, which included the school’s self-evaluation, records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance, assessment, notes from visits from the local authority and minutes from governor meetings.
• Records, policies, training logs and procedures relating to safeguarding were also reviewed.
• Inspectors took account of the 40 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View.

Inspection team

Sara Morgan, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Brian Simber Ofsted Inspector Sarah Jones Ofsted Inspector Simon Yates Ofsted Inspector David Bryant Ofsted Inspector