Olga Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve outcomes for pupils in writing by:
  • challenging and stretching the most able, enabling them to flourish as strong, confident writers.
• Enhance provision in the early years by:
  • ensuring that strengths in promoting positive behaviour are extended across the whole day.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The determined leadership of the headteacher, supported by a committed team of teachers and middle managers, has secured significant improvement since the last inspection. They have rightly focused their time and resources in transforming the quality of teaching and pupil outcomes, which are now good.
• Leaders and managers have a clear understanding of how well pupils are progressing in their learning. They monitor what is happening in lessons very closely and offer support to teachers where weaknesses are identified. This is evident in the consistent approach in the teaching of mathematics and reading across the school. As a result, pupils show secure development in their mathematical and reading skills.
• The curriculum reflects the school leaders’ focus on providing a well-rounded learning experience for its pupils. They have forged high-quality partnerships with ‘Tower Voices’ and with Lloyds Underwriters, who sponsor their trips to the English countryside. They also have links with companies in the City, and pupils have worked on projects with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
• Pupils learn about British values through a wide range of opportunities planned within and outside the formal curriculum. Their work on restorative justice and Unicef’s ‘Rights Respecting Schools’ allows pupils to develop their understanding of what is right and wrong. This is reflected in the high levels of respect, acceptance and tolerance observed among pupils and adults. These experiences enhance the harmonious relationships found in this culturally diverse school.
• The curriculum strongly supports pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. During this inspection, for example, pupils were focusing on celebrating differences. They were engaged in activities highlighting similarities and differences, including lessons on diversity, covering disability, racism, power, friendships and conflict. One pupil said, ‘Some of our lessons changed the way we behave towards each other.’
• Leaders have used the sports premium effectively to improve the quality of physical education teaching. Pupils have a variety of sports activities to choose from, delivered by fully qualified sports coaches. The school has also started training former pupils, who are keen on delivering sports tuition as part of the after-school offer. As a result, more pupils are now involved in competitive sports.

Governance of the school

• A review of governance has been completed as recommended in the previous inspection report. Despite the chair of the governing body being relatively new to the post, the governors collectively demonstrate a clear and accurate view of the school’s performance. They are aware of the school’s improvement needs and the challenge they offer to school leaders is sharp and timely.
• Governors understand how the school has used the pupil premium, and additional funding for the development of sports and physical education. They examine how the school plans to spend this funding and they demand from school leaders a measure of the difference these funds are making to all pupils. There was evidence of leaders reviewing the pupil premium spending plan in direct response to challenge posed by governors.
• The school’s pupil premium fund pays for an additional teacher supporting disadvantaged pupils in years 3 and 6. Assessment information shows that these groups of pupils are making more than expected progress as a result of this.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Safeguarding procedures are robust. Staff at all levels are aware of their duty to keep children safe. The school takes a lead on coordinating external agencies and partners to ensure pupils’ safety and well-being. The school manages the high rates of referrals very well, and recording is clear and detailed.
• Staff know the pupils well and they implement safeguarding procedures confidently. Staff know the signs to look for and know what to do if they have concerns. The inclusion team helps many vulnerable families by working closely with organisations which can provide focused and timely support.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers have a deep understanding of the curriculum they teach and they know their pupils very well. They use this information to plan lessons that are challenging and engaging. This enables pupils, including the most able and disadvantaged pupils, to do their best and make strong progress.
• In mathematics, teaching is planned in a way that enables pupils to practise and consolidate number skills. As a result of this, pupils are able to show that they have secured mastery of mathematical skills.
• Teachers intervene promptly and are skilled in identifying and addressing misconceptions at the earliest opportunity.
• The teaching of reading is effective. Younger pupils receive regular and consistent teaching of phonics. Pupils across the school use a variety of strategies to help them read challenging and unfamiliar books. Pupils of all abilities, including the most able and least able, display a genuine love of reading.
• There are improvements in the teaching of writing in the school. Pupils’ work shows that they are making progress over time. The school’s focus on teaching grammar, punctuation and vocabulary is bearing fruit as pupils are producing writing of a high quality. However, the most able writers are not stretched enough to show greater depth in their writing.
• Pupils show excitement when learning new things across the curriculum. They contribute what they already know about their termly topics before their teachers plan their learning activities. They talk about how they share this through the ‘knowledge harvest’.
• Pupils talk about their learning confidently and enthusiastically. They are able to articulate where they are and where they need to be in their learning.

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 polite and they are keen to talk about how proud they are of their school. They look after themselves and each other well.
• During playtimes, many pupils engage in structured activities led by adults while others choose to play in groups independently. They do this sensibly, taking turns and displaying enjoyment and engagement.
• Clear routines mean that pupils move between activities in class quickly and calmly. They have shown resilience in the midst of building work which has considerably reduced both their learning and play spaces.
• Pupils know how to keep themselves safe at school, at home and online. A group of Year 4 pupils eagerly talked about the potential dangers of the internet, including social media. They make explicit links to the messages they receive from their computing teacher when they talk about e-safety.
• Pupils are adamant that bullying does not exist and that when some pupils are being unkind they tell adults and they are confident that it is dealt with.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils display positive attitudes to learning. They are often motivated and they respond to instructions promptly. Engagement in learning is high and pupils participate actively in class or paired discussions. No time is lost in the learning.
• Behaviour has improved since the last inspection. The school leaders keep a detailed record of incidents of poor behaviour. They follow these up and put support in place to ensure that the behaviour of individual pupils improves over time. Parents are complimentary of the work of the school in improving behaviour.
• Attendance overall is improving year on year. School leaders are uncompromising in following up absences. They have been successful in supporting vulnerable families to ensure that their children attend school regularly. The school works alongside families identified as persistently absent.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• From their starting points, pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This means that by the end of key stage 2 the proportions of pupils who reach the expected standards in these areas are close to national averages. As a result, pupils leave well prepared for learning in secondary school.
• Pupils’ achievement in key stage 1 is improving year on year. In 2016, the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics was close to the national average.
• The proportion of pupils exceeding expected standards in all subjects by the end of key stage 1 was above the national average in 2016. This was also the case for disadvantaged pupils.
• The difference in the attainment between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally is diminishing in all subjects. This represents an important achievement for these pupils since the last inspection.
• Current pupils in school make good progress from their starting points across all subjects. In some year groups attainment remains low, but this is rising rapidly.
• Outcomes for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are good. Teachers and school leaders are committed to understanding their needs, planning appropriate activities, and supporting them in their learning.
• The most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make good progress overall. The proportion of pupils exceeding the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics is rising at key stage 2 and even more so in key stage 1.
• Outcomes in mathematics reflect the improvements that school leaders have put in place in this area. Teachers benefit from high-quality training and are now able to plan lessons which develop pupils’ mathematical skills through varied and frequent practice.

Early years provision Good

• Children start school in the Nursery or Reception with skills and knowledge below what is typical of their age. By the time they leave Reception, a higher than average proportion of pupils achieve a good level of development and a small proportion exceed the early learning goals in reading and writing.
• Teaching in the early years is good. It is effective in supporting children to practise what they know and develop their fluency when reading, writing and counting. Early years staff encourage children to learn independently but are also very good at intervening to move their learning on. In a Reception lesson, for example, an adult offered effective support to a child who was writing independently about bells. The adult’s support enabled the child to refine and improve his sentence.
• The broad and balanced curriculum promotes effective learning and is helping the majority of the children to achieve the early learning goals by the time they leave the setting.
• Children are highly engaged in their learning; they listen and respond to adults with enthusiasm. However, positive behaviour is not consistently promoted throughout the day, particularly during lunchtime.
• Parents receive guidance from leaders and teachers on how to support their children at home. They benefit from the support the school provides, including its ‘Early Words Together Program’. Through this, they get guidance on how to support their children’s communication and language development at home.
• Parents talk positively about their children’s experience in the setting. One parent wrote on Parent View: ‘We have a very good feeling about Olga and almost every day our son sings new songs he has learned in school. He looks for new shapes they had to find in the playground, recognises letters, and talks about his friends and teachers in school.’

School details

Unique reference number 100916 Local authority Tower Hamlets Inspection number 10019654 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 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 237 Appropriate authority Tower Hamlets Chair Rebecca Harvey Headteacher Linda Ewers Telephone number 020 8981 7127 Website www.olga.towerhamlets.sch.uk Email address admin@olga.towerhamlets.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 7–8 October 2014

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• This is a larger-than-average primary school. It is expanding to three forms of entry and added a second Reception class in September 2016.
• The majority of pupils are of Bangladeshi heritage.
• A high proportion of pupils are disadvantaged and are supported through the pupil premium funding.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.
• A high proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• On the second day of this inspection, the early years setting was closed to children due to planned staff training.
• 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

• Meetings were held with the headteacher, members of the senior leadership team, members of the governing body, including the chair of governors, staff, and a representative from the local authority.
• The inspectors met with a group of pupils and listened to pupils reading. These pupils were from various year groups and of different abilities.
• The inspectors took account of 42 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online survey, and eight responses to the Ofsted free text service, and spoke with parents when they brought their children to school in the morning.
• The inspectors observed the school’s work and looked at pupils’ work and a range of documents, including the school’s arrangements for safeguarding, performance management procedures, and pupils’ attendance data. Inspectors also looked at information about pupils’ progress and attainment.
• The inspectors carried out observations in lessons, most of them jointly with school leaders.

Inspection team

Edison David, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Julian Grenier Ofsted Inspector David Lloyd Ofsted Inspector