Drayton Park School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Ensure that leaders and governors: - refine assessment systems to more quickly identify groups that may need additional support to make consistently rapid progress.
• Develop the partnership with parents to involve them more in their children’s learning.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher’s determination to achieve the very best for the pupils of Drayton Park has driven the school’s continued improvement so that it is now outstanding. She has created a ‘no excuses’ culture, which reflects her absolute belief that every pupil can succeed. Teachers and other staff believe this too; their high expectations mean that this school makes a real difference to pupils’ lives and learning.
• School leaders and those responsible for working with families know the community they serve exceptionally well. They work tirelessly to keep pupils safe from harm and to support them so that they are ready to learn. For example, each morning, staff ‘check in’ with pupils as they come in to school and provide any help that they need to have a successful day, straight away. As one staff member explained, ‘This school puts children, their safety and progress at the heart of everything it does.’
• The school sensibly uses additional funding to provide free breakfast before school and free childcare and clubs after school and during half terms. This allows pupils to extend their time in the calm environment that the school provides, if they wish. School trips are also often free or highly subsidised. This allows pupils to have regular and memorable experiences, such as visiting Stratford to put their learning about Shakespeare into context. Younger pupils enjoyed first-hand experience of visiting a castle. This gave them a real-life understanding to build on in their writing about castles.
• The headteacher is very well supported by the deputy headteacher who is responsible for standards and the quality of teaching. He ensures that staff receive continuous opportunities to improve their skills and ability so that they provide the highest quality teaching. Checks on the quality of teaching are very rigorous, and performance management procedures are carried out thoroughly. These strategies have ensured that teaching has improved and is now outstanding.
• Together, the headteacher and deputy headteacher provide highly resilient and reflective leadership. They accurately assess the school’s effectiveness, being far from complacent and always looking to make the school even better. Nevertheless, their analysis of the information they hold about individual pupil performance could be more sharply focused to help them better to understand how well particular groups are doing.
• Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils is used exceptionally well. Leaders make well-judged decisions about how to spend the money, based on what they evaluate as making the greatest impact on outcomes. This has helped all pupils to make more rapid progress and has enabled disadvantaged pupils to catch up with their peers.
• Leaders ensure that pupils who speak English as an additional language benefit from extra support from bilingual staff. Additional funding also provides help for any pupil who needs to work with a speech and language therapist or social work consultant. This is helping pupils to make improved progress.
• Pupils thoroughly enjoy the broad and balanced curriculum. Topics are interesting and relevant to pupils. They have many opportunities to apply their reading and writing skills in different subjects. Subject leaders check how well pupils are doing and have reviewed how pupils can develop their skills in a wide range of subjects. Specialist teaching in physical education, music and Spanish adds greater depth and expertise to the curriculum.
• The sport premium is used remarkably well to transform the physical well-being of pupils. Pupils have been inspired to try different sports. The proportions of pupils who attend extra-curricular sporting clubs and/or have represented the school in competitive sport have risen considerably. Staff who lead physical education motivate pupils and give teachers increased confidence when working on physical activities with their classes.
• Pupils, through their words and actions, demonstrate that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain and for the next stage of their education. Pupils show great tolerance for each other and respect differences in cultures and religions. For example, older pupils were respectful and supportive of their Muslim friends who were fasting for Ramadan. Pupils recall what they learn when visiting different places of worship. They can also explain how democracy is in action in the school, for example through the fair election of the school council.
• Leaders responsible for the provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities ensure that additional funding is spent purposefully and effectively to improve the support for these pupils. As a result of leaders’ effective work with other professionals and parents, pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are making significant progress.
• While many parents from different backgrounds and communities are wholly positive about the school, there are a minority of parents who are not. Some parents feel unable to express their thoughts and concerns to school leaders. Leaders have the opportunity to raise the aspirations of pupils further, by working even more closely with families.

Governance of the school

• Governance is very strong. Since their appointment at the start of the year the chair and vice chair have made very good use of their experience to strengthen governance further. All statutory duties are fulfilled. They have ensured that all necessary polices are in place, for example, policies to keep pupils safe. As a result, governance contributes strongly to the outstanding leadership of the school.
• Governors hold leaders to account highly effectively. They come in to school to check things for themselves and challenge leaders when things could be even better. For example, the chair challenged leaders about the underperformance of lower-attaining key stage 1 pupils in 2016. He also requested that information about how well pupils are doing was presented in a more helpful way. Governors know that they need more information about how much progress different groups of pupils are making.
• Strong leadership of the governing body has ensured that the school is well organised and funds are spent appropriately, including additional funding for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and for primary sport.
• Governors attend training regularly and are constantly developing their skills so they can continue to challenge and support the school effectively.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s daily work to safeguard pupils is led by a senior learning mentor in ‘the hub’. She knows the community exceptionally well and is respected by parents, who are happy to talk to her about their concerns. She works tirelessly with the most vulnerable families throughout the whole year. Her dedication is inspirational and makes a real difference to pupils’ lives.
• The headteacher oversees the strategic work on safeguarding well. She has ensured that all staff and governors are appropriately trained. Staff know which risks they need to be vigilant about and the procedures to report any concerns. They also know about the school’s whistleblowing policy, in case they should ever be concerned about a leader’s work to protect pupils. A member of staff explained that they, ‘particularly like the way vulnerable children are cared for’, saying that they, ‘are never made to feel that a slight concern for any child is insignificant’.
• Leaders ensure that safer recruitment checks are carried out thoroughly. Appropriate checks on staff and volunteers, including governors, are recorded accurately on a central record.
• The school’s excellent partnership with children’s services and individual social workers helps to keep vulnerable pupils safe. Other professionals recognise the excellent work that is completed with families in this school and know that when any referral is made it is for a fully justified concern.
• Leaders respond speedily to pupils’ concerns. For example, pupils said that they were worried about online safety. Leaders organised a workshop that was attended by 30 parents to give them confidence about keeping their children safe online.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching throughout the school is highly successful and leads to pupils making rapid progress. Almost without exception, pupils are highly engaged and motivated by what they see and hear from teachers and by what they are asked to do to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and understanding.
• Highly competent teachers use a range of strategies successfully to stretch, challenge and support pupils. These include checking that pupils have the right resources to support their learning and ensuring that pupils’ work is just right in terms of difficulty. Teachers model examples of what they expect, so that pupils gain confidence when attempting new work. Teachers use their detailed subject knowledge to ask questions that challenge pupils to think deeply or explain their understanding.
• Teachers use assessment information very well to identify individual pupils who may be at risk of falling behind the fast pace of learning. These pupils are quickly assigned to additional teaching support, including in phonics or ‘maths drill’, which helps pupils to quickly develop their arithmetic skills. This highly focused support helps pupils to catch up quickly and get back on track.
• Pupils work hard to live up to the high expectations set for them. As one pupil told an inspector, ‘They push us beyond our limits but support us to achieve our best.’
• There is a strong and consistent approach to teaching phonics. Precise teaching by teachers and teaching assistants ensures that pupils make rapid progress to acquire the foundations to become successful readers in the future.
• Pupils have many opportunities to apply their reading skills across the curriculum. For example, pupils were seen reading a variety of different information texts about Boudicca, furthering their historical knowledge.
• Pupils also apply their writing skills across the different areas of the curriculum. In geography, pupils reflected carefully while writing a persuasive letter about rainforests, carefully editing and redrafting their writing in draft books before recording their best work in their ‘prove it’ book.
• In mathematics, pupils are taught to solve calculations fluently and to deepen their understanding, with opportunities to problem solve and reason. An inspector observed a Year 6 group, for example, rapidly developing their understanding of algebra because of the teacher’s expert use of resources and step-by-step approach to gradually increasing the level of challenge. Elsewhere, the inspector saw how a teacher had reviewed their planning to provide additional support for pupils who had found the concept of using standard subtraction difficult.
• Teachers prepare pupils very well for their futures. The school’s learning ‘characters’, such as ‘cooperation twins’ and ‘resilient Rosie’, help pupils to work together and not give up.
• Parents who spoke to inspectors are very happy with the progress that their children make. Through the school’s online system, they mostly felt well informed of how well their children are doing. No parents expressed any concerns to the inspection team about homework.
• Leaders are always looking to improve teaching further. They check classroom learning effectively and monitor pupils’ books for inconsistencies, providing valuable input to teachers and teaching assistants to help them to develop even further.
• Teachers are reflective and respond positively to feedback to help them improve. They benefit from regular, sharply focused coaching, which helps them to improve specific elements of their practice.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Pupils’ safety and welfare are the school’s top priority. Staff from ‘the hub’ work tirelessly with pupils and their families to help to keep them safe both on school days and during the school holidays. Some pupils told inspectors that the reason they like to come to school is because it is where they feel safe.
• The breakfast and after-school clubs encourage pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, to eat healthily and stay fit. Participation in competitive sport has continued to grow, helping pupils to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
• Pupils who spoke to inspectors have no concerns about safety. The staff who completed the confidential online questionnaire also concluded that the school was a very safe place.
• The school works effectively to prevent bullying. As one pupil told an inspector, the school has ‘zero tolerance of bullies’. Leaders know there is more work to do to reassure some parents that bullying is not a problem in the school.
• Pupils have many opportunities to take on extra responsibilities. Some older pupils help to prepare the hall for assembly while others willingly take on more formal responsibilities and roles, such as school councillors, digital leaders or physical education council members.
• Pupils are aspirational and want to do well, voicing their ambitions to become ‘doctors, vets and surgeons’. They look fondly at the aspirations board that charts the ongoing success of pupils who have left Drayton Park before them.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• Pupils behave very well in their lessons because they are engrossed and inspired by the exciting and interesting activities that teachers plan. Pupils who have found it difficult to manage their behaviour in the past, including at other schools, are settled, well supported and enjoying their learning.
• Pupils understand and value the clear systems of rewards and sanctions.
• Pupils move around the school quietly and sensibly. They are polite and hold doors open for visitors, staff and friends. At lunchtimes, pupils eat socially with children from other classes before enjoying the wide range of outdoor sports and activities.
• Leaders have high expectations, and, as a result, pupils take great pride in their work and their appearance, looking very smart in their uniforms. Work in their ‘prove it’ books and on display around the school showcases their very best presentation.
• Attendance is above average. Persistent absence is uncommon. Pupils understand the importance of coming to school and learning.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• The vast majority of children join the school in Nursery or Reception with skills and knowledge that are much lower than those found typically for their age. They make strong and sustained progress through all key stages to achieve standards that are above those found nationally when they leave key stage 2. For example, pupils make significantly more progress than other pupils nationally through key stage 2 in reading and mathematics.
• This progress is as evident in pupils’ personal, social and health education (PSHE) as it is in English and mathematics. Pupils who joined the school with low levels of personal and social development become confident and mature young people who can express views and opinions convincingly and coherently by the time they leave Year 6.
• Disadvantaged pupils, who often have lower starting points, make rapid progress to catch up with their peers. This is because additional pupil premium funding is used so effectively. In 2016, the school was a local award winner for its successful work in improving outcomes for those pupils who are disadvantaged. This was because of the excellent outcomes for these pupils in 2015.
• By talking to pupils about their learning and looking at their workbooks, inspectors confirmed that current pupils are making rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics. The well-presented displays of pupils’ writing provide further evidence of the very strong progress being made in this area.
• Current disadvantaged pupils are doing at least as well as their peers in the school, because those who have fallen behind are making rapid progress to catch up. The most able disadvantaged pupils are doing at least as well as their other most-able peers and, in many cases, better.
• Pupils who fall behind are quickly identified and helped to catch up through excellent additional support, including for those most-able pupils who briefly fall behind the rapid pace of learning of which they are capable.
• Inspectors saw strong evidence of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities making rapid progress from their starting points because they are extremely well supported and challenged.
• Pupils, including those who start school speaking very little English, make tremendous progress in developing their early reading skills. As a result, more pupils meet the phonics screening standard in Year 1 than found nationally. From this early milestone pupils go on to read regularly, fluently and with enjoyment.
• Reading and writing skills are applied exceptionally well by pupils in a range of subjects. Pupils develop their skills in physical education, music and Spanish very effectively because of teaching by subject specialists. School leaders are currently embedding a new assessment framework to ensure that pupils develop their skills as well in other subjects.
• Leaders are not complacent. They spotted that lower-attaining pupils had not done so well in key stage 1 in 2016 and have ensured that this group has caught up in Year 3. Similarly, they identified that the most able disadvantaged pupils in Year 6 in 2016 made less progress than others. They have ensured that this will not be repeated for future cohorts.
• Pupils’ individual progress is tracked by teachers and leaders with great care. However, the analysis of progress by groups of pupils is less well developed in helping leaders to identify underperformance, or indeed exceptional performance, in order to trigger extra support or celebrate success.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The school’s focus on language and writing starts as soon as children enter the early years. Adults all model spoken language and extend children’s own language skills very well. The use of specialist staff to work with children who are new to speaking English is particularly successful. In addition to this, speech and language therapists help those who have already fallen behind with their speaking skills to rapidly improve.
• The indoor and outdoor environments provided for children’s learning motivates and enthuses them. There are very many rich opportunities for children to practise and consolidate their learning through worthwhile and playful activities.
• Themes are well chosen to develop language and learning. For example, a ‘water’ theme in the Nursery provides many opportunities for children to develop in all areas of learning. This is built on in the Reception year when children go on to learn about pirates and treasure-filled islands, and develop their own storytelling skills around the theme that they are already familiar with.
• Children take advantage of the additional opportunities offered in the role-play areas to immerse themselves in the particular theme and practise their writing and number skills. For example, one girl had chosen to visit the ‘underwater’ area to apply her phonics knowledge by labelling the parts of a colourful fish, using the correct initial and final sounds.
• Children make excellent progress from starting points that are often very low for their age, in both the Nursery and Reception settings. Disadvantaged children do extremely well and achieve more than other children nationally. They are exceptionally well prepared for Year 1.
• Staff are deployed highly effectively and are always available to promote the next step of learning for a child that is interested in something new or wants to practise a skill.
• Teaching is of a consistently high quality and is imaginative. Phonics is taught accurately in the early years, and this gives children the confidence to start reading and writing themselves.
• Teachers and teaching assistants carry out high-quality observations of children’s learning and use what they have seen to plan exciting new challenges. When children are observed to fall behind they are helped to catch up quickly, or any additional needs that they have are carefully addressed.
• Children develop in confidence as their time in the early years go on. Many children who had little speech when they joined the school now initiate conversations with new visitors to the classroom. Children take responsibility for the daily routines. For example, they choose to have their snack at a time that suits them.
• The early years setting is extremely safe. Safeguarding is effective and welfare requirements are met. Children’s welfare is regarded as of the highest importance. For example, many staff are trained in paediatric first aid.
• Leaders have an accurate self-evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses in the early years. They are highly ambitious for its success and would like to extend the provision to include two-year olds in the future. Leaders believe that this will help children to make an even better start to school life and learning.
• As with elsewhere in the school, the analysis of each individual child’s progress is very detailed. However, leaders could do more to sharpen the analysis of different groups of children to help them to evaluate even more fully the impact of the curriculum and their teaching.
• Staff work very hard to engage parents at the beginning of their child’s school life. Children love to take ‘Tat the bear’ home, and this encourages parents to model writing to their child as part of their child’s learning. The early years leader recognises that there is more to do and is unwavering in her desire to engage more with families to help them to contribute to their child’s learning.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 130254 Milton Keynes 10024607 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 3 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 346 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address David Neilson Jo Alikhan 01908 375137 http://www.draytonpark.org.uk office@draytonpark.org.uk Date of previous inspection 25–26 June 2012

Information about this school

• Drayton Park School is larger than the average primary school nationally and serves an area of significant deprivation.
• The school admits 45 pupils in each year group, organised into two single-age classes in each year group. There are no mixed-age classes.
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher are also headteacher and deputy headteacher at Brooksward Primary School.
• Over half of the pupils are from disadvantaged backgrounds. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is double the national average.
• Around three in 10 pupils speak English as an additional language.
• Over half of the pupils have White British backgrounds. The next largest groups are of Bangladeshi or African heritage.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is larger than that found nationally.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the government’s current floor standards.
• The school operates a breakfast club and after-school club.
• The school has set up ‘the hub’ that gives pupils and their families access to learning mentors and other professionals to support them.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection began as a short inspection of a good school, led by one Ofsted inspector. It was converted to become a full inspection led by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. Her Majesty’s Inspector was joined by three Ofsted inspectors on the final day of the inspection.
• Inspectors observed learning in all classes. When they visited classrooms, inspectors spoke to pupils about their work and looked at their workbooks. Inspectors were often accompanied by the headteacher and/or the deputy headteacher when they visited classrooms.
• Inspectors met regularly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher throughout the inspection. They also held meetings with other leaders and teachers.
• Inspectors gained the views of pupils by talking to them informally around the school and in lessons. They met more formally with the school council and some other pupils from Years 5 and 6. Inspectors heard groups of pupils read.
• The lead Ofsted inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and held a conversation with a local authority consultant. Her Majesty’s Inspector held an additional meeting with the chair of governors.
• A small number of responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, were considered. In addition, inspectors spoke to many parents at the start of the final day of the inspection.
• Inspectors considered 30 responses to the confidential staff questionnaire.
• A wide range of school documentation was scrutinised by inspectors, including safeguarding records, monitoring records, self-evaluation documents and records relating to behaviour and attendance.

Inspection team

Lee Selby, lead inspector Stuart Cateridge Lando Du Plooy Andrew Lakatos Tracy Good, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector