Wellington Community Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Leaders and governors should make sure that all those pupils whose attainment is very high at the end of key stage 1 sustain similarly strong rates of progress into key stage 2.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• Since the school opened in 2013, the headteacher has successfully created a culture of high expectations for pupils. With his loyal and committed governing body, he has ensured that the school serves the needs of the whole community. Consequently, any barriers to pupils’ achievement are identified early and removed quickly. Leaders, teachers and other staff all share his vision for a vibrant and flexible curriculum that draws on pupils’ interests and at the same time raises their expectations and broadens their horizons.
• Parents voice strong support for the school. Almost all of those who responded to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, indicated that they would recommend the school to others. One parent wrote: ‘This is a fantastic school with great management and teaching staff. My son is so happy, and we never have a day where he doesn’t want to go. He is challenged to learn more and has come on so much in a year.’
• Subject leaders and those who lead other aspects of the school’s work are highly ambitious for their pupils. They have had appropriate training for their roles and provide outstanding challenge and support to other staff. As a result, teachers’ morale is high. All of those who responded to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire said that they were proud to work at the school and felt that leaders take account of their well-being when making decisions.
• Leaders rightly identify teaching and other staff as the school’s most important resource. Consequently, the school invests wisely in further training for staff, including for support staff who wish to become teachers. Teachers value the opportunities leaders give them to carry out research into their teaching or subject. They use what they have learned to improve outcomes for pupils.
• A distinctive and highly effective feature of the school’s work is the flexible and exciting curriculum that pupils follow. Exceptionally well-designed schemes of work draw on pupils’ interests and aptitudes and, at the same time, ensure that pupils have access to the full range of national curriculum subjects. Leaders make sure that pupils have the chance to deepen their knowledge and understanding by making explicit links between different subjects, and by ensuring that important topics are taught more than once. Consequently, pupils are fascinated by the facts, skills and concepts that they learn and take pride in remembering them.
• Leaders make excellent provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. All pupils have the chance to play a musical instrument, while their understanding of the world is enriched by the many educational trips and visits that teachers organise. Pupils raise money for charitable causes and are taught to respect the beliefs and cultures of other people. Consequently, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders make highly effective use of additional funding to support pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged, as well as the money the school receives to develop sport and physical education (PE). The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is meticulous in checking that any additional support pupils receive has had the desired impact. Similarly, leaders responsible for the progress of disadvantaged pupils use successful approaches, that have proved to work well elsewhere, to ensure that every penny of extra money is used to remove barriers to learning. Funding provided to develop PE has helped to ensure that all pupils take part in purposeful physical activity as well as helping the school to earn a growing reputation for competitive sport.
• Leaders demonstrate an unshakeable commitment to equal opportunities and diversity. This is illustrated by the school’s very close work with vulnerable families, an important factor in the very high attainment of disadvantaged pupils, which is above that of other pupils nationally.
• The majority of most-able pupils make strong and sustained progress from their starting points. However, of those pupils who performed exceptionally well at the end of key stage 1, in 2018, a small proportion did not keep up their very strong rates of progress in key stage 2. Subject leaders have recognised this and have put in place credible plans to ensure that all most-able pupils benefit from the support and challenge they need as they move from key stage 1 to key stage 2.

Governance of the school

• Governors, many of whom are longstanding, know the school well. Governors who have responsibility for various aspects of the school’s work carry out their duties diligently, including for safeguarding. They work closely with relevant leaders to produce informative reports for the governing body that highlight key strengths, weaknesses and next steps.
• Governors set stretching targets for the headteacher and hold him stringently to account. In meetings, governors scrutinise a range of performance information, including reports from subject leaders and the local authority’s adviser, and do not shrink from asking pertinent, challenging questions of leaders. They monitor carefully the impact of additional funding to support pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged.
• Governors are rightly proud of the strong relationship the school has built with parents and the wider community. They have worked successfully with the headteacher to create a welcoming school that serves the needs of this diverse community exceptionally well.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders have successfully created a welcoming and nurturing school that looks after the social and emotional needs of pupils extremely well. Leaders have detailed knowledge of the community and go the extra mile to ensure that pupils and families have access to the support they need.
• The school’s website provides a range of up-to-date safeguarding information for parents, including advice on keeping their children safe online. Governors allocate resources wisely so that leaders have been able to appoint staff with specialist skills in community engagement and pupils’ mental health.
• All statutory checks on those who work or volunteer in school are carried out rigorously. Staff have received the relevant training they need to recognise signs of abuse, exploitation or radicalisation. There are clear and well-understood systems in place for staff to report any concerns they have.
• The four designated safeguarding leads, one of whom is the headteacher, have undertaken the necessary training for their roles which they carry out effectively. Vulnerable pupils are identified early. Timely and effective support is put in place for them, for which meticulous records are kept. Leaders work well with statutory agencies to ensure the best possible outcomes for pupils, and are tenacious in following up concerns or in challenging other agencies if they believe more needs to be done.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding because teachers use their subject expertise and deep knowledge of every pupil they teach to deliver a challenging, exciting curriculum. Consequently, all pupils, including those with SEND, those who speak English as an additional language, disadvantaged pupils and the most able do exceptionally well.
• Teachers have very high expectations of all their pupils. Pupils rise to the challenge and work with impressive levels of concentration for sustained periods. As a result, pupils produce work of very high quality in all year groups and across the whole range of subjects, including English and mathematics.
• Teachers take account of accurate assessment information to plan lessons and sequences of lessons that meet the needs of individuals and groups of pupils precisely. Teachers are highly effective in igniting a love of learning in their pupils. Pupils speak with breathless enthusiasm of the exciting topics they have learned about in class or on one of their frequent educational visits. For example, pupils in Year 4 were enthralled by a recent trip to the British Museum to see and learn about artefacts from ancient Egypt.
• Teachers are adept at providing inspiring contexts in which pupils learn and apply new concepts and skills. For instance, the anniversary of the end of the First World War provided a highly appropriate backdrop for the study of Wilfred Owen’s poetry in Year 6. Pupils wrote moving poems in response to their reading, demonstrating both literary skill and empathy with the soldiers who fell in that conflict.
• Teachers and teaching assistants plan together effectively and between them ensure that no pupil is left behind. Any misconceptions that pupils may have are quickly spotted and addressed, while pupils who need additional help to catch up receive timely and effective support.
• Teachers make sure that their skills are always up to date. They attend regular training, and many study for further qualifications. They value the opportunities they have to talk about their practice, and work with other colleagues to share planning and moderate their assessments of pupils’ work.
• Pupils are keen to do well and learn from their mistakes. They relish the feedback they receive from their teachers and make good use of the time they are given to improve or correct their work. Pupils take immense pride in their work. Teachers consistently emphasise the need for pupils to write neatly, accurately and expressively from their earliest days in school.
• A distinctive feature of learning in this school is teachers’ insistence on pupils using precise, subject-specific vocabulary. This becomes apparent when pupils speak with insight and understanding about resistance in science or inverse operations in mathematics.
• Teachers seize every opportunity to ensure that pupils understand the diverse society they live in. This is illustrated in the striking display in the hall that celebrates the different countries, cultural heritages and languages represented in the school.
• Guided by subject leaders, teachers now check that most-able pupils who achieved exceptionally well at key stage 1 sustain their strong progress through key stage 2.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils benefit from an exceptionally wide range of opportunities to develop their skills and interests beyond the classroom. After-school clubs are well attended and include activities as varied as chess, competitive sports, choir and dance. In addition, pupils have the chance to perform to their peers, for example in a talent show, or in external events such as singing in the O2 Arena.
• Pupils develop their understanding of democracy and leadership by holding elections for the school council or by applying to become play leaders. Play leaders enjoy helping to run playground activities and checking on younger or vulnerable pupils at breaktimes.
• Pupils are extremely proud of their school and their own achievements. They speak with genuine affection about their teachers, in whom they have high levels of trust. They wear their uniforms smartly and are extremely well mannered towards visitors. They are confident, outgoing and love to talk about what they have been learning.
• Leaders make sure that pupils learn about and understand different religions and cultures so that they are prepared well for life in modern Britain. Year 3 pupils demonstrated an excellent understanding of the Hindu festival of Diwali.
• All pupils say that they feel safe in school and there is someone they can talk to if they are worried about anything. They say that they do not worry about bullying and that if there is ever any teasing, teachers deal with it quickly and well.
• Teachers ensure that pupils know how to keep themselves safe from online grooming. Pupils know not to give out their personal details. One pupil said, ‘I always tell my mum what sites I visit when I am using the internet.’ Pupils are also taught about how to minimise risk in relation to a variety of other hazards, such as from fire and when crossing the road.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. From their very first days at school, pupils are taught to manage their own behaviour and to be considerate to others. Consequently, pupils behave impeccably in class and pupils from all year groups mix together harmoniously at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
• Pupils love coming to school so rarely miss a day. Typically, attendance for all pupils is above the national average for primary schools. Disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND have consistently high rates of attendance.
• Leaders work very closely with the small number of families who have difficulty in sending their children to school every day. Leaders rightly focus on removing barriers for these families and help them to instil regular routines at home.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Over time, pupils’ attainment in reading, writing and mathematics is exceptionally high in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. The attainment of disadvantaged pupils in key stages 1 and 2 in reading, writing and mathematics is much higher than that seen for other pupils nationally.
• The proportions of the most able pupils, including the most able disadvantaged, who attain the higher standards are also typically much higher than national figures at key stages 1 and 2 in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Pupils’ performance in the phonics screening check in both Year 1 and Year 2 is very high compared to national figures. Provisional results for 2018 indicate that almost all pupils reached the expected standard, with all those who speak English as an additional language achieving the standard.
• In all year groups and in a range of subjects, current pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, make sustained progress from their various starting points. Pupils perform so well because the curriculum is well matched to their interests and needs. This is because teachers’ high expectations have successfully raised pupils’ aspirations and resilience. Pupils always try their hardest and never give up, even when learning difficult concepts. Those who need extra help to catch up or keep up benefit from timely and effective support.
• In mathematics, teachers ensure that pupils develop their mathematical fluency and reasoning skills in a structured and carefully planned way. In reading, pupils are exposed to well-chosen books that make more demands on their analytical skills as they move up the school. The school promotes reading very effectively. Pupils read widely and often with confidence and enjoyment. They speak with insight and interest about the books they have read both in school and at home.
• Leaders have, rightly, given a high priority to writing which is exceptionally well taught throughout the school. Teachers’ intense focus on the basics of writing in key stage 1 pays dividends in key stage 2, where pupils’ writing is distinguished by its accuracy, inventiveness and secure command of tone and vocabulary.
• Pupils also do extremely well in the wider curriculum. Teachers make sure that pupils retain important information by returning to key topics at various points in the year. In history, religious education and other subjects, pupils can remember and explain clearly what they have learned since the school year began.
• A very small number of pupils did not sustain the strong progress they made at key stage 1 into key stage 2, in 2018. Thanks to credible plans put in place by subject leaders, current most-able pupils in all year groups are making very strong progress across the curriculum.
• Pupils throughout the school are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage of their education because of the expertly designed curriculum they follow, the positive attitudes to learning that they demonstrate and the outstanding outcomes that they achieve.

Early years provision Outstanding

• Children in the Reception class make outstanding progress from their starting points. The proportions of children who reach a good level of development are consistently above national averages, with many children having started the year at a level of development below that which is typical. Disadvantaged children in particular make a flying start to their school career.
• Current children do exceptionally well because they benefit from a well-planned and expertly taught curriculum. Teachers and other adults have created a stimulating learning environment that engages and often enthrals children. For example, a group of children were fascinated with a magnet and, prompted by their teacher, enjoyed finding out which materials were magnetic and which non-magnetic.
• Not a minute is wasted. From the moment children arrive at school, they are engaged in purposeful activity, with a well-judged balance, over the course of the day, between child-initiated and adult-led activities. Children who need extra help with aspects of their learning or social development are quickly identified and supported skilfully.
• The teaching of early reading is highly effective. Children who have only been at the school for three months demonstrate a growing understanding of letters and the sounds they represent. Similarly, children are beginning to write simple words and short sentences. This was evident as children were engrossed in writing messages in greetings cards and addressing the envelopes.
• Teachers make sure that children develop a secure understanding of number, for instance by creating numerous opportunities for children to count to 20 and understand the concepts of ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ a number. Teachers and other adults ask probing questions that help children to solve problems and use their imaginations.
• Children’s behaviour is exemplary. They comply with simple and already firmly established routines for clearing up or moving from one activity to another. Children are kind to each other and they learn and play well together.
• The early years leader has a precise understanding of children’s needs and their next steps. Assessment information is used effectively to ensure that every child gets the correct level of support and challenge. All staff engage very well with parents, particularly in the important weeks preceding the start of the school year. Similarly, arrangements for children’s transition into key stage 1 are highly effective, enabling them to make a strong start in Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number 138139 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10054149 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Community Age range of pupils 5 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 420 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr Neil Bridger Headteacher Mr David England Telephone number 01252 326573 Website www.wellingtonprimary.com Email address adminoffice@wellington.hants.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18 January 2018

Information about this school

• Wellington Community Primary School works in partnership with the nearby Marlborough Infant School. The headteacher currently leads both schools. Although each school has its own governing body, the chair of governors of Wellington Community Primary oversees governance in both schools.
• The school was last inspected by Ofsted in January 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act. At this time, the school demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in certain areas that may have indicated the school was improving towards becoming outstanding. The lead inspector therefore recommended that the school’s next inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited lessons throughout the school to observe learning across the curriculum. While in class, they talked to pupils about their work and looked at their books. The headteacher or other members of the senior leadership team accompanied inspectors on some of these visits.
• The lead inspector met with the headteacher to discuss his self-evaluation of the school.
• Inspectors spoke to leaders responsible for various aspects of the school’s work.
• Inspectors also met formally with groups of staff, pupils, governors and a representative of the local authority, as well as talking informally to pupils and parents.
• The inspection team considered a wide range of additional evidence, including information and documents on the school’s website, samples of pupils’ work, and leaders’ records of pupils’ attendance, behaviour and academic standards.
• Inspectors took account of 23 staff survey responses and 58 replies to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire. Parents’ views were also considered via 182 responses to the Parent View online questionnaire, which included 22 free-text comments.
• Inspectors reviewed safeguarding procedures at the school.

Inspection team

Gary Holden, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Joanna Toulson Ofsted Inspector Maxine McDonald-Taylor Ofsted Inspector