Burpham Foundation Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Make even better use of teaching assistants to exploit their expertise more effectively.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The inspirational headteacher leads the school with quiet determination. Since her appointment three years ago, she has been uncompromising in her commitment to ensure that all pupils are happy, nurtured and achieve highly. Staff are unanimous in their praise for her dedication to the school, its staff and pupils.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate and thorough knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for further improvement. They have overseen the expansion of the school while ensuring that high standards of teaching, learning and leadership are maintained and improved upon. Areas identified as needing development are monitored meticulously and improved quickly. For example, recommendations from the previous inspection have been addressed fully; assessment systems enable teachers to plan accurately to meet individual needs, and teaching is now outstanding.
• Ably assisted by her skilled deputy headteacher, the headteacher has significantly improved the quality of teaching. Strong partnerships with local schools enable staff to seek out best practice and evaluate their own work accurately. Staff reflect and review their work constantly so that it is the best it can be. Leaders’ accurate checks on the quality of teaching enable them to provide further focused training and support where needed. Newly qualified teachers feel particularly well-supported. Consequently, teaching is imaginative and standards in all year groups are high for all pupils.
• The broad and varied curriculum is a strength of the school. Core skills of reading, writing and mathematics are particularly well taught, both as separate subjects but also embedded throughout other subjects. For example, in geography pupils carefully planned a letter about deforestation to their local Member of Parliament. They ensured that subject-specific vocabulary was used accurately and complex sentence structures were used to good effect. Work with a local secondary school to ensure pupils’ mastery of mathematics is ensuring that pupils are extremely well prepared for their next stages of education.
• Leaders use assessment information well to identify any groups that show signs of underachievement. For example, leaders are acting swiftly and effectively to accelerate the progress of a few pupils in Year 4 so that these pupils are now making more rapid progress than they did last year.
• Subject leaders evaluate pupils’ achievement across subjects skilfully, ensuring that adjustments are made to teaching if their monitoring shows that any areas need fine-tuning. For example, the leader of science supports teachers to accurately identify pupils working at greater depth at key stage 1.
• Pupils value the extra-curricular opportunities that support their learning in lessons. A recent trip to HMS Victory was a highlight for pupils studying history, for example. Many pupils participate in the sports, drama and music activities run by the school, including increasing numbers participating in inter-school competitions.
• Leadership of the special resource base is especially strong. Leaders work very effectively with parents and outside agencies to ensure high levels of care and support for pupils. Activities are tailored carefully to meet the specific needs of each pupil.
• Pupil premium funding and special educational needs funding are used very effectively. Pupils who need it receive extra teaching to help them make the progress of which they are capable. Leaders track pupils’ progress very well, adjusting how the funding is spent yearly so that it matches pupils’ changing needs. Rightly, however, leaders are adjusting how individual pupils are supported by teaching assistants to utilise their expertise more effectively and to promote pupils’ increasing independence.
• Sport premium funding is used efficiently to increase pupils’ activity levels and to train staff so that they can offer a variety of sports activities in school. As a result, pupils’ opportunities to engage in good-quality sporting activities are enhanced.
• Leaders have created a harmonious community which, with the curriculum, promotes pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development highly effectively. Pupils are very accepting of each other’s differences, and keen to learn about how people live locally and throughout the world. For example, pupils listened attentively in an assembly highlighting how money they had raised was helping people in Africa recover from disease. Closer to home, school councillors encouraged pupils to provide food for a local food bank. Through such activities, pupils have a well-developed understanding of equality and diversity and are being thoroughly prepared to play a full part in life in modern Britain.
• The vast majority of parents are overwhelmingly positive about the school. As one parent wrote, ‘The teachers and leadership at Burpham are great. I know the school has my child’s best interests at heart.’ However, a small minority of parents would like communication between the school and parents to be improved.

Governance of the school

• Governance is very strong. Governors are highly committed, with a range of experience and expertise which equips them well for their roles. They demonstrate a precise understanding of the school’s strengths and priorities, challenging leaders supportively and effectively to make constant and sustained improvements to the school. This includes making sure that the performance management system is fit for purpose and used effectively.
• Governors oversaw the school’s recent expansion and building works very capably. They make sure that extra funding for disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used highly effectively. As a result, vulnerable pupils are supported well to make rapid progress. Governors make sure that sports funding is used effectively to increase pupils’ activity levels.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding in this school. Adults are vigilant in ensuring pupils’ welfare and safety. Staff and governors receive regular training in child protection, which ensures a consistent understanding of the school’s systems to keep children safe. Concerns are reported promptly and meticulously kept records show that they are taken seriously.
• Staff know each of their pupils very well and are able to tailor their support accordingly when they face difficulties. Leaders are aware of pupils whose circumstances make them vulnerable, including those in the special resource provision. Staff work closely with outside agencies where necessary to provide the additional support these pupils and their families need. This helps pupils to attend school regularly and to feel safe and cared for. As one parent who responded to the Ofsted survey, Parent View, commented, ‘The staff are very caring and responsive.’
• Leaders and governors make sure that recruitment procedures are robust and that rigorous and appropriate checks on adults working at the school are carried out. Governors have a clear understanding of their specific safeguarding duties and carry them out diligently.
• Pupils feel safe in school and know who to talk to if they have any concerns. They have a very clear understanding of how to stay safe on the internet and in their community, including a strong understanding of ‘stranger danger’.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• Teaching is outstanding because teachers use their excellent subject knowledge to plan and teach lessons which support pupils’ learning very well. Adults’ accurate understanding of pupils’ learning needs, coupled with high levels of care, enable pupils to make very strong progress. As one parent wrote, ‘My son is thriving in this environment, learning so much and eager to learn more every day.’
• Teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve across the whole curriculum, and pupils are determined to meet them. For example, in Year 2 pupils studying Christopher Columbus sequenced dates on a timeline and wrote complex sentences about his life. Pupils worked hard and with excitement, while developing their literacy and numeracy skills further through the historical topic.
• Pupils delight in learning, both in school and at home. They are very keen to improve, engaging actively and cooperatively with work in lessons. Pupils told inspectors they really like doing homework, particularly when they develop new skills and interests. The recent ‘have a go week’ helped them to gain confidence in themselves through trying activities such as floristry and model making.
• Mathematics is exceptionally well taught. For example, in key stage 1 teachers model skills using counting resources highly effectively to aid pupils’ understanding of number. Pupils learn key concepts in depth and then apply their knowledge to solve mathematical word problems with fluency. Pupils’ work shows they can explain their thinking very well. Pupils, including the disadvantaged and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make excellent progress.
• Teachers provide a varied range of opportunities to promote reading. For example, in Year 1 pupils were ‘reading detectives’ as they learned how to use the glossary and index in non-fiction texts. Pupils from different year groups worked collaboratively to create wall displays highlighting the strengths of a range of authors.
• Writing is taught very effectively throughout the school. Teachers deftly help pupils reflect on the quality of their writing. Pupils plan their writing well, sharing ideas with each other about how to use subject-specific vocabulary effectively in their work. Pupils understand the importance of editing their work to make it even better. They write at length in a range of genres and across the broad range of subjects in the curriculum. Consequently, pupils achieve very highly in writing, especially in key stage 2.
• Pupils’ rising achievement in phonics shows that the teaching of phonics has improved dramatically this year. Teachers carried out research into what works best for pupils at Burpham School and adjusted their practice accordingly. Teachers expertly show pupils the correct mouth shape and tongue placement so that they make the sounds correctly.
• Teachers and teaching assistants show high levels of care when supporting disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Adults use skilful questioning to check pupils’ understanding, so that these pupils typically make very good progress. This is especially successful in accelerating pupils’ progress in phonics and in key stage 1 writing. However, teaching assistants occasionally do not challenge pupils to think hard enough about their work.
• Teaching in the special resource base expertly supports pupils to develop their skills. Adults use assessment information particularly well to plan individual pupils’ learning carefully so that it meets their social, emotional, health and academic needs. As a result, pupils in the base make very strong progress from their starting points.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Adults know pupils and their families very well. The most vulnerable pupils, including those who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs and/or disabilities, are supported especially well.
• Pupils are happy, polite and full of confidence. They play very well with each other at breaktimes and work collaboratively together in lessons. Bullying is exceptionally rare, and pupils seldom fall out with each other. They feel safe in school, and know that adults will help them should they have any worries. As one parent said, ‘Burpham is a nurturing, happy place. My child is developing skills for life-long learning.’
• Pupils take their responsibility to be part of a friendly community very seriously. Members of the democratically elected school council have written their own ‘friendship charter’ which is displayed in the playground. Year 2 pupils told inspectors that anyone who feels lonely can ‘sit on a special bench’ and ‘someone will come and be friends with them’.
• The school promotes healthy lifestyles well. All pupils are expected to be ‘wellie ready’, with boots kept in every classroom so pupils can still be active outdoors in rainy weather. Inspectors saw pupils in Year 1 proudly serving a ‘family-style meal’ to each other at lunchtime. The sport premium is used well to encourage pupils to be more active, including dance and football sessions run at lunchtimes. Extra ‘taster sessions’ are also provided to introduce pupils to activities run in their local community, such as tennis.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils are very courteous and considerate to each other and to adults. Behaviour in lessons and around the school is exemplary for all year groups. There is a calm atmosphere throughout the school, including in the special resource base.
• Reception children participate in a range of different activities that promote their independence well. As they progress through the school, pupils learn to manage their own behaviour exceptionally well, refocusing themselves quickly should their attention waver for a moment. Pupils take care over their learning, as reflected in their neat presentation and detailed work.
• The very few pupils who need additional help to manage their behaviour are supported highly effectively, including those who attend the special resource base. Leaders address individual needs carefully, involving parents well and taking advice from experts if necessary so that pupils’ behaviour improves and they remain safe.
• Attendance is well above average and most pupils rarely miss a day of school. Those pupils who are regularly absent due to medical issues are well supported. Procedures to monitor absence are very thorough. Leaders involve outside agencies promptly and effectively to work with families who need extra help to make sure their children attend school more regularly.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Pupils throughout the school make excellent progress from their starting points and attain very highly. In 2016, the vast majority achieved the expected standards for their age at key stage 2, with many more also achieving the new higher standards in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils made progress at rates significantly above those of pupils nationally. In writing and mathematics, pupils’ progress was in line with the top 10% of pupils in the country.
• At key stage 1, pupils consistently attain standards at least in line with others nationally in reading, writing and mathematics. A much greater proportion of pupils than nationally achieve the greater depth standard, particularly middle prior attaining pupils.
• Pupils’ love of reading pervades the school. Pupils use the two libraries regularly and responsibly, choosing interesting books that help develop their reading skills very well. Pupils in key stage 1 use their phonics skills confidently to sound out unfamiliar words. Most-able pupils in key stage 2 read fluently and with expression, explaining story lines in detail and with passion.
• Disadvantaged pupils, including the most able disadvantaged pupils, make good and often rapid progress from their starting points. So, too, do those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is because of skilful teaching in class and carefully selected additional help provided by teaching assistants.
• The most able pupils achieve very highly and make progress in line with the top 10% of pupils in the country in reading, writing and in mathematics. This is because of highly effective teaching which challenges pupils to try their best, constantly.
• Pupils achieve very well across a broad range of subjects because of the varied teaching expertise that exists within the school. For example, in Year 2 music pupils understood the need for good posture when playing the recorder. In Year 4 science, pupils demonstrated their knowledge of physics by explaining which circuits would and would not work based on how the wires were connected.
• Historically, some pupils have not attained as well in the Year 1 phonics screening check. This is often because of the associated speech, language and communication needs of particular pupils. However, current pupils are achieving much more highly in phonics than previously, including those in the special resource base. Teachers provide timely bespoke extra teaching to individuals who need it. Those who did not meet the standard in Year 1 have caught up rapidly and are now applying their skills very well in Year 2. Pupils apply their phonics knowledge exceptionally well in their writing.
• Teachers have addressed a slight dip in the achievement of boys in writing at key stage 1 highly effectively. Teachers have changed the early years curriculum, providing more activities which encourage boys to want to write when they come to school. This is working well, so boys are now making similar progress to girls at key stage 1.
• Pupils in the special resource base make very strong progress. In particular, their writing shows rapid improvements over time.

Early years provision Outstanding

• The early years environment is tailored carefully to meet children’s needs across the whole curriculum. Imaginative learning experiences, both inside and outside, match what children say they want to learn about. As a result, children are happy, cooperative and engrossed in their learning. Children playing outside designed their own ‘potato race’ obstacle course. They wrote lists of participants on clipboards, developing their writing well and using numbers to order those joining in the game.
• Leaders are ambitious in their pursuit of excellence for children in the early years. Their improvements to the environment and to teaching mean that children make very strong and increasingly rapid progress. The proportion of children who reach a good level of development by the end of the Reception Year is greater than that found nationally, particularly for girls. Leaders’ records and inspectors’ observations show that current pupils are making even more rapid progress than previous cohorts, including in phonics.
• Children make substantial progress over time in mathematics. Teachers use assessment information effectively to analyse the progress of each child and adapt teaching to match their needs. Adults supervise children carefully, prompting them with skilful questions to explain their thinking as they play and learn. For example, in a teacher-led session, children developed their counting and subtracting skills using coins to help them understand the value of numbers.
• Children develop their social and communication skills very well as they increasingly take responsibility for their learning. They demonstrate their growing independence through monitoring their own work across the week to make sure they have taken part in every curriculum area. They enjoy feeding the school guinea pigs and talked animatedly about what different animals like to eat.
• Adults evaluate very effectively how well pupils are learning, adjusting what they do so that children make the best possible progress. Recent research with other local providers into how to improve achievement in phonics and in boys’ writing has led to increased opportunities for children to write about what they are interested in. For example, children used the story ‘Chicken licken’ as a stimulus for their own writing. Children used their phonics skills highly effectively to explain their drawings of the story, changing the names of the characters to make them funnier. The most able pupils started to use punctuation as well.
• Children are very proud of their work. Their best efforts are displayed on the ‘proud wall’ for all to see. Pupils regularly show their parents this work, explaining what they have learned from completing it. Parents of children in the early years are overwhelmingly positive about how their children settle into school. They particularly praise the adults who carefully supervise their children, telling inspectors that ‘every child feels noticed and special’.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 125299 Surrey 10024825 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 Foundation 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 337 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Mrs Imogen Wall Mrs Jo White 01483 572510 www.burpham.surrey.sch.uk head@burpham.surrey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 26–27 February 2013

Information about this school

• The school roll is increasing. As a result, the school is now larger than the average-sized primary school. It has two classes in each year group up to Year 4 and one in both Years 5 and 6. A new class is being added each September as the school becomes fully two-form entry.
• The headteacher and deputy headteacher are new to their posts since the previous inspection.
• Most pupils are of White British origin. Around one fifth of pupils speak English as an additional language.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is much smaller than that found in schools nationally.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.
• The school has specially resourced provision for 12 pupils who have special educational needs relating to communication and interaction.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school meets the government floor standards that set out the minimum expectations for primary schools.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection began as a short inspection of a good school led by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors. The inspection converted to become a full inspection and three Ofsted Inspectors joined the team on the second day.
• Inspectors observed learning in all classes and made additional shorter visits to classrooms. Inspectors observed assemblies and pupils playing at breaktime. The majority of these observations were carried out with senior leaders.
• Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, other school leaders and a group of staff. Inspectors looked at a range of pupils’ work with school leaders.
• Her Majesty’s Inspector met with a group of governors and held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.
• Inspectors spoke to parents on the playground and took account of the 85 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire, including the 77 free-text comments.
• Inspectors spoke with pupils informally in lessons and on the playground. Inspectors met more formally with a group of pupils to gather their views of the school. Inspectors heard some pupils read.
• Inspectors considered the 51 responses to the confidential staff survey.
• Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation including safeguarding information, school improvement and development plans, information about pupils’ progress and attainment, the school’s reports on the quality of teaching, and minutes of governing body meetings.

Inspection team

Catherine Old, lead inspector Clare Haines Peter Dunmall Hilary Goddard

Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector