St Faith's CofE Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that pupils make consistently good progress in a wide range of subjects by fully implementing the school’s plan for pupils to gain a deep understanding of knowledge and skills across the curriculum.
• Maximise progress for the most able pupils by:
  • ensuring that they do not waste learning time by doing work that is too easy for them before moving on to more challenging tasks
  • providing tasks and activities that are more demanding in lessons.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Pupils are at the heart of all that leaders and staff do at this warm and welcoming school. Leaders’ aspirations for pupils’ academic success are matched by their determination to develop pupils’ emotional and social skills. Those pupils who are more vulnerable and need extra help receive appropriate support from a nurturing staff team. As a result, barriers to learning are reduced and pupils leave St Faith’s as well-rounded youngsters who are ready to take their place in modern Britain.
• Despite significant changes in staffing in the last two years, leaders have continued to drive forward improvements in the quality of teaching and learning. Leaders’ high expectations coupled with bespoke training for staff have resulted in effectively supporting staff to help pupils make good progress. This is especially so in English, mathematics and religious education.
• Subject leaders have a clear understanding of the rationale for the curriculum and their role in ensuring its successful implementation. The headteacher has implemented clear and well-understood procedures to support the role of subject leaders. This means that those subject leaders who are new to their posts are also able to fulfil their responsibilities.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is strong. Teachers ensure that there are opportunities for its development throughout the curriculum. Pupils treat those around them with respect and demonstrate empathy. They understand that people have different beliefs and they learn to respect these differences. For example, Year 6 pupils study the religion of Islam and visit a mosque to gain a deeper understanding of the religion.
• British values are interwoven into the school’s Christian values. These values permeate all aspects of school life. Each half term, a different value is explored through collective worship and in lessons. For example, the value for this term is justice. Pupils talk enthusiastically about what these values mean and why they are important. Pupils also gain a first-hand experience of democracy by voting for their school council. Further, the school is an accredited ‘Rights Respecting School’.
• The curriculum is enhanced by extra activities to inspire and motivate pupils’ learning. Additional activities include trips out, visitors to the school and visits to museums and galleries. Recently, Year 1 pupils had a hands-on animal handling workshop in school and drew on this experience to write a recount text in English.
• Leaders use the pupil premium funding well. As a result, disadvantaged pupils currently in the school are making good progress in English and mathematics. Leaders are quick to identify barriers to learning so that additional support can be provided. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils has also improved in the last year.
• The special educational needs leader has a detailed and thorough system in place to track the progress of pupils with SEND. The additional funding received for these pupils is used effectively to provide adult support and specific resources. Consequently, pupils with SEND make good progress from their individual starting points.
• The primary school physical education (PE) and sports funding is spent effectively to encourage pupils to participate in sport and to promote healthy lifestyles. Pupils take part in a wide range of sports, such as taekwondo, ballet and multi-sports. Staff have developed their skills in teaching PE by working closely with the sports coach.
• The overwhelming majority of parents and carers value the school greatly. They speak highly of the headteacher, the school’s ethos and the quality of education provided. Typical of parents’ views, one commented: ‘It's an amazing school! They care deeply about the children and you can feel the pride of the children for belonging to this school.’ Another parent said: ‘The headteacher and his team put in so much hard work that it shows from drop off to family worship to fairs and much more. It’s more than just a school and has strengthened the local community.’
• Leaders have given much consideration to planning the curriculum. They have developed topics or themes to capture pupils’ interests and engage them in their learning. Where possible, subjects are linked together. This helps pupils to make meaningful connections in their learning. There is a focus to progressively build upon pupils’ knowledge and skills from one year to the next in all subjects. However, these plans are still relatively new and are not fully embedded in all subjects.

Governance of the school

• Many governors are new to role. The co-chairs of governors took up post in September 2018. Since their appointments, they have been unequivocal in setting high expectations for the governing body.
• The newly appointed governors have wasted no time in getting to know the school. They make regular visits to school, meet with relevant staff and speak to pupils.
• Governors understand the strengths and weaknesses of the school and are committed to supporting leaders to improve the school further.
• Governors undertake appropriate training. Consequently, governors are able to fulfil their responsibilities.
• Governors ensure that their legal duties in relation to safeguarding are met. They keep their own safeguarding training under review and ensure that school leaders keep them well informed about current safeguarding issues.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Staff know how to keep pupils safe at school. They are clear about safeguarding procedures, including the potential signs that may alert them to concerns about pupils’ welfare.
• Pupils said that they feel safe. They told inspectors that they are encouraged to talk about their worries and concerns. They are assured that adults will take their views seriously. They talked confidently about what it means to be a ‘telling school’.
• The majority of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, said that their children feel safe at school. 

• School files for vulnerable pupils are well organised. There are clear systems in place to ensure that referrals are timely and additional support is available to pupils and families. 


Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Relationships among pupils and between adults and pupils are honest and open. The atmosphere in the school is vibrant, with pupils responding promptly and enthusiastically to staff requests and questions.
• Staff use questioning well to determine pupils’ understanding. As a result, misconceptions are quickly identified and corrected. Inspectors saw examples of staff skilfully using questioning to deepen pupils’ understanding of the different ways in which the writer of the text they were reading created literary effects.
• Teaching assistants are deployed effectively. They have a positive impact on pupils’ learning and well-being. Teaching assistants help remove barriers to learning by keeping pupils on track and focused on the task in hand. Teaching assistants demonstrate high levels of skill, particularly in their use of questions.
• As pupils move through the school, the quality of their writing becomes more assured. Pupils show an improving ability to sustain their responses and write for a variety of audiences and purposes. They understand the conventions of different genres and demonstrate this in their own compositions. Younger pupils use spaces and capital letters, forming sentences with increasing complexity.
• In the younger years, the teaching of phonics is regular and systematic. It enables pupils to decode unknown words. Many pupils in key stage 1 learn and apply their early reading skills well, and this is evident in their outcomes in reading by the end of Year 2.
• Leaders’ concerted efforts to improve outcomes in reading are having a positive impact. Pupils are developing their comprehension, analysis and inference skills to good effect. Teachers successfully foster an enjoyment of reading and expose pupils to a wide range of authors. Pupils talked with great enthusiasm about reading and were eager to share their views about their favourite authors.
• Pupils are consistently improving their mathematical understanding of concepts. Teachers apply a consistent approach so that pupils have opportunities to complete fluency, problem-solving and reasoning activities. However, the most able pupils do not move on quickly enough to reach the more complex tasks, despite being ready to do so.
• In some lessons, tasks are not adapted well for those pupils who are capable of learning in greater depth. When this happens, pupils continue to maintain focus, but they do not achieve as well as they should.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Leaders and staff have created a happy, calm and purposeful environment where everyone is valued and respected. The well-being of pupils is at the heart of this school community, especially that of vulnerable pupils who face challenging circumstances.
• Staff and pupils have exceptionally strong relationships rooted in mutual respect. This is because staff know individual pupils well and want the very best for them. Pupils say that they know that adults care about them and will listen to them. Typical of pupils’ views, one commented, ‘Teachers are caring and I belong here.’
• The school’s curriculum is carefully planned to encourage pupils to develop their skills in resilience, independence and perseverance. As a result, pupils are confident, self-assured and exhibit positive attitudes to learning.
• Pupils are proud of their school. Staff establish an environment in which pupils express awe and wonder about their learning as well as value their environment. Pupils show an appreciation of different cultures and religions. Pupils cooperate well with adults and show respect for each other. 

• Pupils know that their safety is a priority. They talk confidently about road and internet safety. They know not to share personal information online and to keep passwords safe.
• Pupils understand the importance of staying healthy through regular exercise and healthy eating. All pupils engage in extra-curricular activities both in and out of school hours.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils’ conduct and behaviour around school are commendable. They are polite, well mannered and considerate to others. Pupils work collaboratively with each other in lessons and treat each other with respect.
• Pupils are assured that adults will listen to them and respond appropriately should they have any problems. Pupils said that bullying is very rare. This is supported by the school’s records on bullying. Pupils understand about different types of bullying, including bullying of a prejudicial nature, such as homophobic and racist bullying. They are adamant that this would not be acceptable and that adults would deal with it effectively, should it occur.
• Historically, pupils’ attendance has been below average. School leaders have worked well with parents and pupils to increase rates of attendance. The measures they have put into place are effective and attendance is improving rapidly.
• The vast majority of parents are complimentary about pupils’ behaviour in the school. They told inspectors how pleased they are with how the school looks after their children.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Attainment at the end of key stage 1 in 2018 was above the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Phonics attainment in Year 1 continues to remain above the national average. Pupils make good progress and enter Year 2 with the necessary skills to read and write. These outcomes reflect the systematic and high-quality phonics teaching in the school.
• At the end of 2018, pupils’ progress in reading and mathematics in key stage 2 was below the national average. Progress in writing was broadly average. It must be noted that this was a very small cohort of pupils.
• In response to the decline in reading outcomes at the end of key stage 2 in 2018, leaders took decisive action to change the way that reading is taught. A new approach to the teaching of reading has inspired pupils to respond enthusiastically to class novels and extracts from books with growing confidence and precision. Pupils complete reading comprehension exercises regularly. Teachers use these to assess pupils’ inference and deduction skills as well as to identify what pupils need to learn next. Consequently, pupils are now making strong progress in reading.
• Pupils with SEND achieve well in relation to their starting points because of the additional support they receive from teachers and teaching assistants.
• The progress of pupils who are disadvantaged is steadily improving. Evidence from pupils’ work and from the school’s assessment information indicates that many of these pupils are making strong progress, especially in English and mathematics.
• The school’s current assessment information, supported by inspection evidence, shows that the majority of pupils currently in the school are making good progress in English, mathematics and religious education. However, pupils’ progress in other subjects is more variable.
• Further, the most able pupils are not sufficiently challenged in lessons to make the consistently strong progress that they are capable of.

Early years provision Good

• The early years provision is good. Adults help children settle quickly into school. As a result, children develop good routines and are happy and confident in their environment. Children get on well with each other, take turns and share resources.
• Staff provide high-quality care to children. Children feel safe and behave well. Adults provide a variety of interesting and well-organised activities. This means that children maintain their concentration on tasks, with or without adult support. Consequently, children are developing positive behaviours for learning.
• Indoor and outdoor spaces are effectively shared between Nursery and Reception classes. As a result, Nursery children are benefiting from learning alongside the Reception children, which is enhancing their language development.
• The teaching of phonics is a strength and children make rapid progress in the early years. Teachers’ high expectations for children, combined with high-quality learning experiences, mean that children develop a strong stamina for learning.

• Children enjoy a wide range of experiences across the different areas of learning. The range of activities stimulate children across Nursery and Reception well. Children’s conversations with adults show that they are thinking and independently extending their knowledge. Children explained in detail to an inspector the process of how they carefully constructed a ‘bug hotel’. 

• Partnership work with parents is strong. Parents attend many workshops to help them support their child’s learning.
• The early years is well led. Leaders carefully track children’s progress. Adults put in place timely support to make sure that children who may be falling behind catch up quickly. Leaders have a good awareness of the strengths of the provision and areas to develop further.
• Most children enter Reception with skills that are typical for their age. By the time they leave Reception, a high proportion of children are working at a good level of development. Many more children are exceeding a good level of development in reading, writing and mathematics. Children are making strong progress and are well prepared for Year 1.

• Safeguarding is effective and statutory responsibilities are met.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 101043 Wandsworth 10088827 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 Voluntary aided 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 199 Appropriate authority The governing body Co-chairs Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Ray Ingram Alice Cheshire Stephan Cook 0208 874 2653 www.stfaiths.wandsworth.sch.uk admin@stfaiths.wandsworth.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 25 June 2015

Information about this school

• This school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.
• Most pupils are White British.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for the pupil premium is above average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is broadly in line with the national average.
• The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed pupils’ learning in all classes. Leaders accompanied inspectors on many of the visits to lessons.
• Pupils’ work was reviewed during lessons and a more detailed scrutiny was made of pupils’ books with senior leaders. Pupils’ work in a wide range of subjects was scrutinised. Pupils’ work on display was also considered.
• Pupils read to inspectors and inspectors spoke to pupils throughout the inspection to gain their views.
• Meetings were held with senior leaders, middle leaders, governors and a representative of the local authority. A telephone call was made to another representative of the local authority.
• A range of documentation was examined, including a summary of the school’s self- evaluation, the school development plan, safeguarding information, pupil premium documents, sports premium documents, the school’s assessment information, external reviews of the school and governing body meeting minutes. 

• Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and during break and lunch times.
• Inspectors considered the 93 responses to Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, and spoke directly to parents. The 13 responses to the staff questionnaire were also considered. Pupils did not complete the Ofsted questionnaire.

Inspection team

Jenell Chetty, lead inspector Catherine Davies

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector