St Lawrence Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve teaching, learning and outcomes, by:
  • deepening pupils’ understanding in mathematics so that a greater proportion make rapid progress.
• Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management, by:
  • developing strategies to ensure that additional support in classes is used effectively to address the needs of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities
  • continuing to work creatively with pupils and their families to improve levels of attendance.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The executive headteacher and head of school have notably improved the school since it opened in November 2014. Leaders show an unswerving determination to provide the best possible education for pupils. One parent commented that leadership in the school is ‘excellent’, and another that senior leaders have a ‘real drive and aspiration for the children’.
• Leaders and governors have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Self-evaluation is rooted in leaders’ scrutiny of firm evidence across the school. Leaders regularly seek advice and address improvements in a timely manner. They know that pupils’ outcomes in mathematics are not as high as they should be and are taking positive steps to address this.
• Senior leaders have developed a culture of high expectations in relation to pupils’ conduct and learning. This is having a positive impact on pupils’ progress across all aspects of their education.
• Arrangements for managing teachers’ performance and setting targets link successfully to the school improvement plan. Leaders hold teachers to account for pupils’ progress and reinforce teachers’ shared responsibility to improve the quality of teaching across the school.
• Staff morale is high. All staff, spoken to during the inspection, felt proud to work at the school and were animated in their praise for leaders. Staff feel valued and listened to by senior leaders, and work hard to fulfil the high expectations required of them.
• Leaders’ planning of the curriculum is well thought out. It covers a broad range of topics, is diverse and exciting. The wider curriculum is enhanced by visitors to the school, trips to stimulating places and thought-provoking content. For example, the recent ‘Diwali Dance’ workshop developed pupils’ understanding of the story of Rama and Sita through dance.
• The school has a strong foundation of values that link strongly to the fundamental British values. Pupils understand the meaning behind these values well and embrace them. Pupils are involved in many democratic processes in the school such as electing school council members.
• Leaders and governors use the additional funding for disadvantaged pupils effectively. Learning support assistants support disadvantaged pupils in ‘pre-teach’ sessions to ensure that they are ready to learn. Teachers also provide pupils with the opportunity to discuss their learning after a lesson. Differences between the rates of progress of disadvantaged pupils and others nationally are diminishing rapidly.
• The sports premium is used efficiently to focus on improving pupils’ physical development and broadening the opportunities pupils have to take part in sport. Pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, benefit from a growing range of clubs, both before and after school. Their participation in sporting activities has increased.
• The school provides a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and after-school sessions to support pupils’ learning and wider experience of school life. For instance, the school holds a regular French club to promote pupils’ communication and listening skills, while enabling them to experience a new language.
• The role of middle leaders in improving pupils’ outcomes across the school is strengthening because of the highly focused and specific training they receive from the multi-academy trust. Leaders’ work with the multi-academy trust’s school improvement team is developing their ability to assess and evaluate the impact of their actions across the school.
• Special educational needs funding is used appropriately to help remove the barriers to learning faced by pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The inclusion manager seeks advice from external agencies to identify the most effective form of support for pupils and then incorporates this in the school. However, some pupils are not always well supported to access the curriculum and this can restrict the progress they make.
• The multi-academy trust provides regular, insightful support for school leaders. Directors use visits to the school to inform their evaluations, and their reports offer leaders and governors useful points of reference for their own assessments as well as clear next steps to improve further.

Governance of the school

• Governors are highly effective in their work. They are determined to ensure that the school provides the highest standard of education for its pupils. They ask challenging questions of leaders and use a range of information to evaluate leaders’ work. Consequently, they have an accurate view of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
• The multi-academy trust has implemented a successful package of support to develop best practice in governance. This has added an additional layer of accountability for governors. As a result, the degree of rigour with which governors hold leaders to account is high.
• Leaders and governors work as a close team to set aspirational targets for whole-school improvement and identify precise actions that will help to achieve these. This provides leaders with the support they need to secure swift improvement across the school.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The school’s safeguarding policy is thorough. It clearly sets out the responsibilities of staff, along with the appropriate actions to take in different safeguarding situations. The single central record details all the necessary checks on the suitability of adults to work with pupils.
• The designated safeguarding leads work effectively with external agencies to protect vulnerable pupils. Leaders follow up all child protection referrals regularly until they are satisfied that appropriate action has taken place to ensure pupils’ safety.
• Leaders make sure that staff are kept up to date with changes to safeguarding guidance and legislation through regular ‘hot topic’ sessions and weekly inclusion briefings. Staff value these updates and use them effectively to inform their practice.
• Parents, staff and pupils are positive about the school’s work to promote the safety and well-being of its pupils. Pupils say that they feel safe. The majority of parents and all staff agree that this is true.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching across the school is improving quickly. Leaders have successfully tackled any inconsistencies in teaching through the school’s robust performance management system. As a result, teaching is consistently good across all year groups.
• Teachers’ assessment of what pupils already know is robust. They use a wealth of information to support their judgements and incorporate this effectively in their planning. This enables teachers to set work at the right level for pupils.
• Teachers’ subject knowledge is secure across a wide range of subjects. Teachers use this knowledge to skilfully question pupils and challenge them to achieve their best. This was particularly apparent in a topic lesson, where inspectors witnessed high-quality questioning from the teacher that encouraged pupils to reflect in-depth about their final product design.
• Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy attempting the ‘dig deeper’ challenges set by teachers and this encourages them to push themselves to achieve more. This is leading to an increased proportion of pupils reaching the higher standard in English and mathematics.
• The precise tracking and assessment of pupils’ progress by teachers allows staff to identify when pupils are falling behind. When this does happen, staff implement bespoke support quickly. As a result, the majority of pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, make good progress.
• The teaching of mathematics has improved greatly over the past two years. Teachers set work that develops pupils’ mathematical reasoning. This provides pupils with the skills they need to be able to justify and explain their answers. However, because of poor teaching in the predecessor school, Year 6 pupils are not sufficiently equipped to tackle these more challenging mathematical problems. Consequently, their outcomes are not as strong.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Staff and pupils embrace the school’s values of responsibility, honesty, kindness, respect, tolerance, cooperation, courage, fairness, commitment, citizenship and teamwork. Consequently, pupils show respect for each other and people’s differing views, beliefs and cultures.
• The school provides pupils with a vast range of opportunities to expand their social development. Termly ‘wow’ days are part of the curriculum and enable pupils to not only celebrate what they have learned but also highlight their work on a particular topic. Thus, pupils’ confidence improves greatly. One parent commented that, ‘The school instils a great community ethos and confidence in all children.’
• Teachers continually develop pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school’s ‘reflection tree’ is a well-used resource for many pupils. This gives them the opportunity to think about the impact of their own and others’ behaviour on the school community. Pupils display an in-depth understanding of the consequences of their actions as a result.
• Pupils know and understand how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations. They learn how to stay safe in relation to the hazards of fire, on the road and online. Children in Reception follow safety rules well when they are playing outside on their trikes. Pupils in Year 6 have the opportunity to participate in a cycling course that improves their road-safety awareness. Key stage 2 pupils can articulate the importance of not sharing personal information online.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• In lessons, pupils’ attitudes to their learning are constructive and this contributes to a purposeful learning environment. Incidents of low-level disruption are rare because of the high expectations of behaviour conveyed by teachers.
• Pupils’ behaviour during breaktime is positive. They play and interact well with each other and conflict is rare. Older pupils support younger pupils to integrate and make friends by inviting them to join in with their games and discussions.
• Incidents of bullying are rare. When incidents do occur, pupils and staff state that teachers deal with these effectively and in a timely manner. As a result, the reoccurrence of bullying is unusual.
• Leaders and governors monitor behaviour across the school frequently. Records show that behaviour improves over time. Pupils, staff and most parents echo this view.
• Systems to reward pupils for their hard work and adherence to the school’s values are highly effective. Pupils value these and strive to achieve recognition of their hard work.
• Pupils’ attendance is broadly in line with the national average. Leaders are aware that the absence rates for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities need to improve. Newly developed strategies to support individual pupils identified as having poor attendance have had a positive impact and absence rates have decreased for these pupils. However, it is too early to measure the impact of leaders’ work on particular groups of pupils across the school.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• The school’s own information and checks on pupils’ work show that rates of progress have improved vastly from previous years. Pupils make rapid progress from their starting points in reading and writing.
• In the Year 1 phonics (letters and the sounds they represent) screening check there has been year-on-year improvement and results are consistently above those seen nationally. For those pupils who are not successful in Year 1, additional ‘pre-teach’ support is provided. All pupils succeed in Year 2 as a result.
• Pupils’ progress across key stage 1 is exceptionally strong in reading, writing and mathematics. By the end of Year 2, only a very small proportion of pupils do not achieve the expected standard, and most pupils achieve above what is typical for their age.
• The number of pupils reaching the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics in Year 2 and Year 6 is improving over time. Recent published data shows that the proportion of pupils that reached the higher standard in reading and writing in 2017 was well above that seen nationally.
• Teachers provide pupils with challenging and enriching problem-solving tasks in mathematics. These deepen their understanding of particular concepts and, as a result, pupils are able to reason and justify their answers to problems.
• Pupils express a joy of reading. They often read for pleasure and are able to talk confidently about their choices of author and genre of books. Younger pupils who are at the initial stages of reading can use their knowledge of phonics to sound out unfamiliar words successfully.
• Disadvantaged pupils are making good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because leaders use additional funds well to support these pupils to catch up. Consequently, the proportion of pupils reaching age-related expectations has increased and the attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers are diminishing rapidly.
• Pupils make good progress in topic-based work. Pupils in Year 5 have studied the Vikings and designed various artefacts from this period, making necessary evaluations along the design process.
• In 2016, pupils in Year 6 attained significantly below their peers nationally in mathematics. Leaders at all levels have taken decisive action to increase the progress and attainment of pupils in this area. This has had a positive impact on pupils’ most recent outcomes, which have significantly improved on the previous year. However, the amount of progress that key stage 2 pupils make in mathematics needs to increase further.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress throughout the school. Additional support is typically effective and helps pupils to move their learning on. Nevertheless, sometimes support does not match well to pupils’ individual needs and this can then restrict the rate of their progress.

Early years provision Good

• Children in Reception join the school with levels of development that are broadly typical for their age. In 2017, the proportion of children who achieved a good level of development was in line with the national average, indicating that children make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared to start Year 1.
• Behaviour in the early years is exceptional. Children follow well-understood routines consistently and support each other to behave well. For example, children line up quickly and safely after breaktimes and encourage each other to follow instructions given to them by adults. As a result, the transition between activities is smooth and children are ready to learn.
• The teaching of phonics is highly effective. Children are taught letters and the sounds they represent in an approach that constantly reinforces their learning. Children are enthusiastic about learning new sounds and apply their knowledge of phonics outside of the classroom on a regular basis. Inspectors observed children pointing at objects on the playground and correctly identifying the initial sounds of the object’s name.
• The strong leadership of the early years ensures that welfare requirements are met and that safeguarding is effective. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to keep children safe and are vigilant in carrying these out. As a result, children feel safe and are safe.
• Communication with parents is highly effective. Staff work closely with parents to develop strong relationships with children’s families. Leaders’ close work with families helps to settle children quickly into the school.
• The early years is well led and managed. Leaders use accurate assessment information to plan exciting and imaginative activities for children that sustain their focus for long periods. Leaders use funding for disadvantaged children and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities to provide additional support staff. This is mostly effective, although inspectors witnessed some incorrect task modelling by support staff, which restricted children’s progress in handwriting.

School details

Unique reference number 141347 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 10036794 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Primary School category Academy sponsor-led Age range of pupils 4 to 11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 202 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair Gavin Megaw Headteacher Vanessa Wallden Telephone number 01372 452870 Website www.stlawrence-primary.surrey.sch.uk Email address Wallden_V@stlawrence-primary.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• St Lawrence Primary School opened on 1 November 2014, replacing a predecessor school on the same site that required improvement. The school is part of The Howard Partnership Trust.
• The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. There is one class in each year group.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below that seen nationally.
• A lower-than-average proportion of pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities supported by the school. However, a higher-than-average proportion have a statement of special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
• The school provides a breakfast and an after-school club.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school complies with Department for Education guidance on what academies should publish.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors visited all classes during the inspection to observe teaching and learning, many more than once. All of these visits were carried out jointly with senior leaders.
• When visiting classrooms, inspectors observed parts of the lessons that were taking place, but focused particularly on gathering evidence about what teaching and learning is typically like over time. This included scrutinising the work in pupils’ books and on display, talking with pupils about their learning and hearing them read.
• Inspectors also took the school’s assessments of pupils’ progress into account and considered leaders’ and external visitors’ evaluations of the quality of teaching over time.
• Inspectors met formally and informally with a wide range of people to gather further evidence. This included pupils, parents, staff, school leaders, governors and representatives of the multi-academy trust.
• Inspectors reviewed a wide range of the school’s documentation and records, including particular scrutiny of those relating to safeguarding.
• Inspectors took account of the 54 responses to the Ofsted online survey, Parent View, including several free-text comments. Views from parents, staff and pupils were also gathered informally and formally throughout the inspection and considered alongside this evidence.

Inspection team

Emma Sanderson, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Rebecca Greenhalgh Ofsted Inspector