Leatherhead Trinity School and Children's Centre Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of governance by ensuring that leaders are held to account more strongly for the standards that pupils, including the disadvantaged, achieve.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that:
  • all teachers have consistently high expectations of what pupils can achieve
  • teachers plan learning activities that match pupils’ different needs so that all groups of pupils consistently make rapid and sustained progress
  • pupils are given more opportunities to apply and use their skills in all subjects
  • pupils’ progress is tracked precisely and accurately.
• Improve outcomes in the early years by ensuring that:
  • adults have a full understanding of the curriculum expectations for two-, three- and four-year-olds
  • staff use assessment information to better develop children’s understanding and skills, particularly in the Nursery Year
  • good practice developing in the Reception Year is shared. External reviews of governance and the school’s use of the pupil premium should be undertaken in order to assess how these aspects of leadership and management may be improved.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• The school improvement plan is detailed but is currently not focused sharply enough on addressing the school’s weaknesses. Performance management systems are not contributing strongly enough to improving the quality of teaching quickly enough. More rapid action is required to address different aspects of ineffective teaching.
• The school has a great deal of information designed to show how well pupils are doing. This information makes assertions which are not always supported by the evidence in pupils’ work and is often contradictory.
• Leaders’ checks on the school’s effectiveness do not place enough emphasis on whether different groups of pupils are learning well enough. Consequently, they are not aware if the most able pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are making good enough progress.
• Leaders can demonstrate some positive use of the additional pupil premium funding to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. However, evaluations of the impact of all spending plans for this funding are not rigorous enough. Spending of additional funding to develop physical education and sport has not always had the desired outcomes for pupils.
• The local authority has not provided effective challenge or support to the school to raise standards in the Nursery since the expansion to take two-year-olds into the setting. Standards for this group remain too low.
• The interim headteacher, strongly supported by the wider leadership team, is driving the school forward with purpose and determination. Her changes to the way leadership responsibilities are distributed are having a positive effect. The curriculum is broad and balanced and led well. Middle leaders in charge of individual subjects are not yet confident in leading their specific subject areas.
• The inclusion manager is passionate and committed to providing the very best for pupils. However, the impact of additional funding to support pupils who have special education needs and/or disabilities is not being monitored to assess its effectiveness. For instance, the nurture class provides a focused and tailored learning environment for a small number of pupils, but the impact of this provision is not specifically evaluated.
• Pupils enjoy school, value their experiences and behave well because of the high expectations of staff. Pupils benefit from opportunities that promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development effectively. There are democratic processes to elect pupils to roles of responsibility around the school and pupils are enthusiastic and proud of these roles. Pupils learn about a range of cultures and religions and enjoy a variety of extra-curricular activities and homework support clubs. This broadening of their experiences is helpful in preparation for their future lives in modern Britain.

Governance of the school

• Governors’ use of performance information about the school’s effectiveness is not rigorous enough. Governors have not provided sufficient challenge to leaders for outcomes for all groups of pupils across the school. Minutes of governing body meetings show that governors ask questions of school leaders. However, these are often to seek clarification, rather than to challenge leaders robustly about the school’s performance.
• The governing body does not focus sharply enough on improving outcomes for disadvantaged pupils. Governors do not hold school leaders to account strongly enough for the performance of disadvantaged pupils. Governors are not always ambitious enough for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those who are also disadvantaged.
• The school’s website does not comply with statutory requirements. Nevertheless, the governing body has now put actions in to place to ensure that this problem is rectified.
• Governors are fully committed to the school and share the headteacher’s determination to improve. Governors have sought the necessary training to prepare them for their roles, particularly with regard to their responsibility for the oversight of safeguarding.

Safeguarding

• Arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The school has all the necessary policies and procedures in place to keep pupils safe. Policies are checked regularly and updated in line with current guidance. Checks on the suitability of staff are robust and recorded appropriately on the single central register.
• Staff assess the risks in school activities appropriately. Pupils have an awareness of how to stay safe online and systems in place ensure that a greater number of pupils are now reporting any concerns to adults in the school.
• Staff training is up to date. Staff know and use procedures for identifying and sharing concerns and show vigilance including for low-level signs. All aspects of safeguarding are reviewed regularly during staff meetings and leaders are robust in ensuring that all staff receive weekly updates about vulnerable pupils. Leaders are highly proactive in securing the appropriate involvement of external agencies to ensure that the well-being of pupils and families is of high priority.
• Parents are rightly confident that their children are safe and well cared for at school. Communication between school and home is highly effective, particularly for vulnerable pupils. Pupils feel safe and know how to seek help if required. One parent wrote, ‘It’s a great school, working hard to make sure children from the whole community receive excellent quality of teaching in a safe and nurturing environment.’

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Although there have been improvements to teaching, the overall quality remains variable. Where the quality of teaching is less effective, pupils do not make consistently good progress. Leaders are tackling teaching that needs to be better, but not always with the rigour necessary to identify and remedy all shortcomings.
• Teachers do not always take account of pupils’ starting points. Tasks are sometimes too easy or too hard, which means that the most able pupils, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, do not make enough progress.
• Too many teachers do not consistently encourage pupils to take sufficient pride in their presentation or address untidy or incomplete work. As a result, pupils’ presentation skills are underdeveloped.
• The effectiveness of adults in fostering good learning is variable across the school, including in the early years. Sometimes adults support pupils well through effective questioning and discussion. However, when additional adults are not clear about what is being taught or what is expected, pupils’ progress slows.
• Improving the quality of the teaching of writing is a focus for school leaders. It is effective in some classes, but many teachers do not have high enough expectations of pupils in terms of their basic writing and spelling skills in subjects other than English.
• The teaching of mathematics requires improvement because there are too few opportunities for pupils to consolidate their understanding and to apply it across the curriculum. Teachers do not consistently provide tasks and activities that are well suited to pupils’ levels of skill.
• Provision for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is rapidly improving. Interventions for these pupils and other pupils in danger of falling behind are effective. Pupils in the school’s specialist speech, language and communication centre benefit from opportunities to learn in small groups or on a one-to-one basis with staff.
• Staff are becoming skilled in delivering the school’s new phonics programme. Teachers ensure that pupils who did not achieve the expected standard in the phonics screening check in Year 1 receive the extra support needed to be successful in Year 2. Older pupils read with confidence and fluency and value the reward system that the school has for those who read regularly at home.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Relationships between pupils and staff create a positive climate for learning. Pupils work well together because their personal development needs are met well. Pupils are resilient learners and persevere in their work.
• Pupils understand the different forms that bullying can take and talk confidently about what to do should it arise. They report that if they have any concerns about bullying they know they will be listened to and appropriate action will be taken.
• Pupils feel safe. They appreciate the safety of the school environment and the efforts of staff to help them stay safe.
• Pupils are polite and friendly towards visitors and talk confidently to adults. They usually work well together and are aware of the differing needs of other pupils.
• The breakfast club provides a safe, purposeful start to the day. Some parents expressed a wish for the after-school club to be reopened.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. The vast majority of parents consider that the school makes sure pupils are well behaved. Pupils enjoy school. They are confident, very polite and respectful.
• Leaders have devised programmes of individual support to reduce the number of fixed-term and permanent exclusions. This work has significantly reduced the number of exclusions in recent times.
• Pupils conduct themselves well and their behaviour is typically good throughout the day. As a result, the school is calm and orderly. Occasionally, pupils lose concentration. Some do not work as hard as they should when they do not find lessons interesting or engaging. Nevertheless, they seldom distract others.
• Leaders have improved pupils’ rate of attendance over the last four years. However, although reducing, the proportion of pupils that miss school frequently remains too high. This is particularly true for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Pupils do not always take enough pride in their learning. Pupils do not do their best to present work neatly and often leave work incomplete, which is then not challenged by their teachers.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities do not achieve well enough in reading. In 2016, progress for this group of pupils was well below the national average. Separate assessment information for the group of pupils who attend the school’s specialist provision was not available as leaders do not track the achievement of these pupils as a group.
• Progress for the most able pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, is not always rapid enough. Pupils are not always given work that challenges them fully in order to access to the highest levels of writing and mathematics. Rightly, leaders recognise the need to track more carefully the progress of pupils who are identified as most-able.
• Disadvantaged pupils do not achieve well enough in reading, writing or mathematics. Progress was well below national averages in 2016 for this group. Pupils’ work in books shows that current progress is beginning to accelerate for many of these pupils.
• Results of the phonics screening check at the end of Year 1 have shown a rise over the past three years, forming a pattern of improvement for all pupils, including the disadvantaged. However, too few disadvantaged pupils achieve the expected standard.
• Pupils’ progress and attainment are tracked each half term, leading to the provision of extra support to groups of pupils where necessary. Assessment information shows that there has been recent rapid improvement for many groups of pupils, supported by work seen in English and mathematics books. However, the inconsistency of some analysis by leaders with a lack of external checking of information prevents leaders from presenting a full picture of sustained improvement.

Early years provision Requires improvement

• Teaching in the Nursery Year is not strong enough and children’s needs are not always met well enough. Assessment information is gathered but not used to plan activities which ensure that gaps in children’s development are fully addressed. The setting is not as purposeful or as responsive to children’s needs as it could be. This means that children, including two-year-olds, are not always engaged positively in learning.
• The outdoor area in Nursery is not as exciting a learning environment as it could be. Children do not consistently develop the expected skills and dispositions in their independent learning including sharing, concentration and perseverance. The leader of the early years has good ideas and suitable plans to develop this provision.
• Teaching in Reception is stronger and this helps children to make faster progress and to close some of the gaps in their learning. There has been a rise in outcomes at the end of the early years over the past three years, with children now reaching a good level of development in line with that seen nationally. However, this is not the case for disadvantaged children, as too few achieve a good level of development.
• In Reception, assessment information is used to inform planning. The learning environment in Reception is well set up to provide children with varied opportunities to develop their skills, including their fine and gross motor skills. These opportunities support good progress in children’s development.
• There are strong relationships with parents, who are encouraged to comment on their child’s development observed at home. This results in a strong, supportive partnership between home and school.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 135009 Surrey 10024788 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 Voluntary controlled 2 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 413 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Dr John Swanson Karen Simpson 01372 813615 www.leatherheadtrinity.surrey.sch.uk woodvill@leatherheadtrinity.surrey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 31 January 2013

Information about this school

• The school does not meet requirements on the publication of information about the use of pupil premium for all pupils in receipt of the funding.
• The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school with Nursery classes.
• The school has had a change of substantive headteacher since the previous inspection and currently has an interim headteacher who has been at the school since January 2017.
• The majority of pupils are White British. The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those who speak English as an additional language are broadly in line with national average. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The proportion of pupils supported by funding through the pupil premium is just above the national average.
• The school met the 2015 floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.
• The school has a speech, language and communication centre specialist provision for children with a statement or an education, health and care (EHC) plan which names the provision.
• The school operates over two sites which are just over half a mile apart. One site has the main school for Reception Year to Year 6 and the specialist provision. The other site has the Children’s Centre and Nursery classes. The early years provision is formed of two Nursery classes and two Reception classes. The Nursery class admitted two-year-olds from September 2016.
• The school operates a breakfast club on the main site.

Information about this inspection

• The inspection team visited 22 classes to gather evidence and listen to pupils read. Inspectors observed parts of lessons, looked at work on display and in pupils’ books and talked to pupils about their learning. The interim headteacher and deputy headteacher joined the inspectors for many of these visits. The inclusion manager also observed jointly with the lead inspector.
• Inspectors spoke with a wide range of people to find out their views and experiences of the school, including pupils, parents, staff, senior and middle leaders, governors and the local authority.
• The inspection team considered 67 responses to the online survey, Parent View. They also considered 34 questionnaire responses from staff and 118 questionnaire responses from pupils.
• Inspectors scrutinised arrangements for the safeguarding of pupils.
• Inspectors evaluated school documentation, including the school’s strategic plan and evaluations, assessments of pupils, records of attendance and behaviour and minutes of meetings.

Inspection team

Marcia Goodwin, lead inspector Kate Redman Henry Weir Chris Corr Linda Taylor

Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector