Whyteleafe Primary School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen and improve the early years by ensuring that:
  • teachers plan and organise learning activities that sustain children’s interest and which enable children to build rapidly on their prior learning
  • adults’ questioning develops and extends children’s learning more effectively.
• Strengthen the good quality of teaching, learning and assessment by ensuring that:
  • teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils and provide an appropriate level of challenge, especially for the most able
  • pupils’ learning across the wider curriculum is strengthened further to enable them to achieve the high standards they achieve in English and mathematics.
• Build on the good quality of leadership and management by:
  • implementing leaders’ plans to develop the skills, expertise and work of subject leaders to enable them to contribute more fully to drive improvement
  • sharpening leaders’ evaluations of the quality of teaching
  • continuing leaders’ good work to support disadvantaged pupils, so that the gap between the achievement of disadvantaged pupils and other pupils continues to close and more disadvantaged pupils achieve the higher standards.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher and other senior leaders form a strong team. Together, they lead the school well and share a clear vision and ambition for the school to continually improve.
• Staff morale is high. Staff appreciate and value the way leaders help them to develop their skills through good-quality training, support and mentoring. Professional development is a particularly strong feature of the school. Bespoke training has enabled teachers to successfully develop their skills and knowledge, and build leadership capacity within the staff team.
• There is a strong community spirit shared by staff, pupils and governors, with parents wholeheartedly supporting the school. Parents’ excellent support of their children’s learning at home plays an important role in pupils’ good achievement and the success of the school.
• Leaders use the pupil premium well. In addition to extra support in class, leaders ensure that disadvantaged pupils benefit from attending extra activities, such as clubs and visits. This year, leaders have allocated a member of staff to act as the ‘champion’ for each of these pupils and to oversee and monitor how well they are doing.
• The inclusion leader ensures that the additional funding for pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is used effectively. She makes sure that pupils are given the help they need to enable them to thrive. Teaching assistants support pupils well in lessons. Special language programmes develop pupils’ key skills and contribute well to their social and emotional development. The inclusion leader has also improved the quality of guidance pupils receive by developing the skills of other staff through coaching and mentoring.
• The interesting curriculum promotes pupils’ good learning and also enables pupils to develop their personal skills very well. The curriculum is enhanced by outdoor learning and visits to museums and other places of interest. Provision for music is excellent and this contributes effectively to pupils’ learning, enjoyment and social skills. Weekly swimming lessons are an integral part of the school’s good provision for physical education. Pupils also benefit from the opportunity to attend a residential visit.
• Leaders have recently reorganised responsibilities across the school and created new subject leaders. Many leaders are, therefore, new to their roles and have not yet been able to contribute fully to monitoring or improving learning in their subjects. The school improvement plan, rightly, sets out training for subject leaders to enable them to understand their roles, develop their skills and plan actions for improvements in their subjects.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed well through the curriculum. Kindness and courtesy are modelled by staff and woven through the everyday life of the school. Leaders have created a culture in which all pupils are valued and achievement is celebrated. The school’s environment is attractive and stimulating and many photographs capture pupils’ experiences and learning.
• Leaders make good use of the sports funding. Professional development for staff is improving staff’s expertise in physical education. The funding has increased the opportunities for pupils to take part in competitive games.
• Leaders’ close tracking of pupils’ assessments in English and mathematics enables them to act quickly if a pupil is making insufficient progress. They responded swiftly to address the slower progress that some disadvantaged pupils made in the previous school year. As a result of leaders’ actions, current pupils are making good progress. However, leaders recognise that there is more work to do to ensure that disadvantaged pupils attain as well as others and that gaps in achievement continue to close.
• The headteacher regularly checks the quality of teaching across the school. He visits classrooms to observe teaching, checks progress and assessment information, and has professional development meetings with teachers. However, the evaluations of the quality of teaching from visits to lessons do not focus sufficiently on the impact of teaching on pupils’ learning. Evaluations of the quality of teaching are also, at times, overgenerous.

Governance of the school

• At the start of this school year, there was a change to the governance arrangements at the school. There is now a school strategy board which fulfils the role of the local governing body.
• The multi-academy trust board members have made this change to enable the school and trust to streamline decision-making and accountability procedures. This transition has been smooth as four members of the previous governing body and existing trustees have joined the school strategy board. However, as these arrangements are new, it is not possible to evaluate the impact of this change on the quality of governance at the school.
• Scrutiny of governing body meeting minutes and discussion with board members show that governors confidently challenge leaders at the school. They have clear systems in place to enable them to have a good knowledge of the work of the school, for example through their regular visits. Good-quality training has ensured that governors are knowledgeable about safeguarding and able to understand and evaluate the information they receive from leaders.
• Board members ably fulfil their responsibilities, for example by regularly checking on safeguarding arrangements and the school’s finances. They are highly committed to the school and share leaders’ aspirations. At the start of the inspection, the school’s website did not include all the required statutory information. However, members swiftly addressed this to ensure that the website is now fully compliant.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Comprehensive training has ensured that staff have a very good knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures. This enables them to be alert to any concerns and respond appropriately and quickly. Leaders maintain good-quality, systematic records and address any concerns promptly, referring these, when appropriate, to outside agencies.
• Leaders work effectively with outside agencies to ensure that pupils are kept safe. Their regular meetings with the school’s link social worker enable leaders to keep safeguarding high on the agenda. They are confident in challenging and pursuing any concerns with other agencies, to ensure that pupils and their families are receiving the right support. Equally, leaders and other staff work very effectively with families to make sure that they are supported well.
• Leaders ensure that pupils learn how to keep safe online, for example by not sharing personal information or photographs. They also give pupils appropriate guidance and training about road and rail safety.
• Leaders take appropriate steps to make sure that the premises are well maintained and safe. They carry out regular and appropriate risk assessments, for example, for off-site visits and the security of the school site. They keep arrangements under review, continually seeking to improve safety. For example, they recently made changes to the access to the swimming pool to improve site security.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Teachers plan lessons which interest pupils and motivate them to learn. Teachers successfully harness pupils’ natural thirst for learning. As a result, almost all pupils commit to learning well and settle to work quickly during lessons. There is a positive climate for learning across the school. Relationships between pupils and staff are strong and staff show high levels of care for pupils’ well-being.
• Teachers use their good subject knowledge to create interesting ways for pupils to learn. For example, when learning how to write a description of a tunnel, pupils delighted in pretending to be in a tunnel, thinking of words to describe their sensory experience and their feelings. Opportunities to carry out practical scientific experiments also enhance pupils’ learning and interest in science.
• Writing is developed well. Teachers draw on a wide range of good-quality texts to develop pupils’ writing. For example, pupils’ letter writing was developed from their oral retelling of a familiar picture book. This contributed well to pupils’ learning, as they were able draw on familiar ideas and vocabulary in their own writing. In addition, ‘check-lists’ enable pupils to know what to include in their writing. Story plans provide helpful guidance for pupils to enable them to shape their ideas before they begin writing.
• Phonics is taught well and enables pupils to develop their early reading skills very effectively. Teachers ensure that pupils across the school have many opportunities to practise their reading skills. As a result, pupils develop good reading habits and read for pleasure. The well-stocked library is an inviting and inspiring place for pupils to read and select new texts. Equally, parents support their children’s reading extremely well by ensuring that their children read at home every day.
• Pupils’ mathematical skills are developed well. Teachers ensure that pupils have opportunities to develop appropriate calculation skills and fluency. Teachers encourage pupils to ‘reason’ when solving problems. For example, when rounding numbers pupils are asked to think about whether or not particular digits will ‘always, sometimes, or never’ round up or down.
• Highly effective teaching in music ensures that pupils achieve very well in this subject. The many opportunities for pupils to sing and play together contribute to their enjoyment of music as well as the development of their musical skills, knowledge and understanding.
• Teachers ensure that pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Teaching assistants provide timely, sensitive support and teachers adapt tasks to suit pupils’ needs, enabling them to learn well and be fully included in lessons.
• In most classes, teachers routinely question pupils, check that they understand their tasks and ensure that pupils’ errors or misconceptions are addressed. However, teachers’ questioning does not routinely probe pupils’ deeper levels of understanding, especially for the most able pupils. In some instances, pupils’ misconceptions and errors have gone uncorrected.
• In some classes, teachers’ expectations are not high enough as they do not take sufficient account of pupils’ prior learning. Some tasks do not provide a high enough challenge, especially for the most able pupils. As a result, pupils’ work is not consistently of high quality, and pupils, especially the most able, are not appropriately challenged.
• Teachers ensure that pupils have good opportunities to learn across a broad range of subjects. However, scrutiny of pupils’ work for some subjects, including history, geography and religious education, shows that these subjects are not as well-developed. Pupils’ work in science lacks depth.
• Parents value the good-quality information they receive from teachers about how well their children are learning. Reports give a particularly good level of detail about pupils’ learning in English and mathematics.
• Pupils’ good achievement and outstanding personal skills prepare them very well for their transition to secondary education.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils enjoy school and are immensely proud of their achievements and the school. They are eager to play their part in helping around the school such as being ‘tour guides’ for visitors. Pupils are motivated and try their best. They are self-assured and confident learners.
• Pupils report that staff are always there to listen to them and offer support. The excellent relationships staff have with pupils enable pupils to be entirely confident in speaking to a member of staff if they are upset or worried about something.
• Pupils are knowledgeable about how to stay safe when using the internet, and understand about road and rail safety. They speak with confidence about the way the school keeps them safe, such as ensuring that all visitors are checked and the school site is safe.
• The many parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, expressed high levels of satisfaction with the school. The vast majority of parents agree that their children are cared for well, feel safe and are happy at school. As one parent commented, ‘My child is thriving, has blossomed socially and looks forward to school.’
• The school provides effective support to enable pupils who have emotional difficulties to be supported very well. Staff work effectively with outside agencies to ensure that these pupils and their families receive the right support and guidance.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. In classes and around the school, pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. They are courteous and considerate and show high levels of care and concern for other pupils.
• Behaviour and incident logs show that inappropriate or unkind behaviour is extremely rare but that, if it happens, leaders deal with this effectively. Pupils report that bullying does not happen and feel completely confident that, if there were ever any unkind behaviour, adults would deal with it quickly. Pupils are particularly proud of the kindness awards which pupils are nominated to receive by their peers. Some older pupils act as peer mediators to help resolve any minor concerns. The school’s leaders are strengthening pupils’ learning behaviour even more, by encouraging pupils to use the ‘behaviour wheel’ and reflect on attributes such as ‘resilience’.
• Pupils develop a strong sense of right and wrong and they are highly respectful of each other, valuing difference and diversity. As one pupil explained: ‘You need to treat people as you would wish to be treated. We are all different.’ During paired and group work, pupils work together well and show good levels of cooperation. Pupils also reflect thoughtfully about other people, for example by taking the initiative and organising and supporting fundraising events.
• The school’s strong community spirit shines through and pupils relish the opportunities they have to take on extra responsibilities, such as becoming a school councillor or a member of the pupil leadership team. These opportunities also support pupils’ understanding of fundamental British values, such as democracy.
• Pupils attend very well and leaders’ effective action has improved the attendance of the few pupils who previously attended school less regularly.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• In 2017, at the end of key stage 2, the proportion of pupils who achieved the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics was well above the national average. Pupils in key stage 1 also achieved well and a higher-than-average proportion of pupils achieved the expected standards.
• Pupils achieve well in phonics. They confidently apply their skills when reading new words and this supports their early reading. As pupils progress through the school, their reading develops well. They sustain their attention when reading longer texts and read for meaning. In addition, many pupils read for pleasure.
• School leaders rightly identified that, in the past, boys did not make as much progress as girls, particularly in writing. Their effective action has ensured that boys are now making much better progress, and the gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement is closing.
• Pupils’ writing develops well as they move through the school. They have a growing understanding of different forms of writing, and write for a range of purposes. They develop greater stamina and control, and use a broader range of vocabulary, sentence structure and punctuation. However, in key stage 2, pupils’ spelling and punctuation is not as accurate as it could be. Simple errors, such as misplaced capitals in the middle of sentences, persist as these are not consistently addressed by teachers. The quality of some pupils’ writing, particularly the most able, is also sometimes held back because of weak grammar.
• In mathematics, pupils acquire confidence and fluency in calculation and many can apply these skills well to solve problems. Older pupils are able to select the most appropriate method to use, for example when to calculate mentally and when to use a written method. Pupils have a good understanding of place value and can explain their thinking and reasoning well.
• Current disadvantaged pupils are making similar progress to other pupils, although there remains a gap between the attainment of this group and others. While the gap is beginning to close, leaders recognise that there is more work to be done to enable disadvantaged pupils to catch up with their peers. Across the school, a much smaller proportion of disadvantaged pupils achieve the higher standards. This is the case for the current Year 2, as no disadvantaged pupil achieved the higher standard, in any subject, at the end of the Year 1.
• The most able pupils achieved well in 2017. In key stages 1 and 2 the proportion of pupils who achieved a higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics was above the national average. Overall, current pupils are making good progress. However, in some classes, the most able pupils are sometimes given work that is well within their grasp. As a result, their learning is not moved on as quickly as it could be.
• Most pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. The good support that they receive in class enables them to fully participate and learn well.
• The school’s assessment data indicates that current pupils are making good progress and a very high proportion of pupils are achieving the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics. However, work sampling of pupils’ books and visits to classrooms indicate a more varied picture. In some classes and year groups, tasks are insufficiently demanding to enable pupils, especially the most able, to build sufficiently on their prior learning. In addition, some pupils’ work lacks care and accuracy.
• Pupils achieve very well in music. The many opportunities pupils have to play, sing and perform develop their musical skills well. Pupils understand the meaning of musical terms such as tempo and they sing tunefully and enthusiastically, keeping in time and pitch when singing unaccompanied. The opportunity to play and sing in musical groups contributes very well to pupils’ performance skills, their enjoyment of music and understanding of music from different countries. When asked what they like most about the school, many pupils enthusiastically replied, ‘Music!’
• The broad curriculum enables pupils to learn in a wide range of subjects. Pupils learn through a range of interesting topics such as the Great Fire of London and the ancient Egyptians. However, pupils’ learning in some subjects, including history, geography and religious education, is not at the same depth or the very high standard that it is in English and mathematics. For example, pupils have limited understanding and knowledge of different faiths, and a depth of learning is not evident in pupils’ work in science.

Early years provision Good

• Children enter the early years with skills that are well above those found typically for children of this age. They make good progress, and by the time they leave the early years, a higher-than-average proportion of pupils achieve a good level of development.
• Good induction procedures, including home visits, ensure that children make a confident and happy start to school. Relationships with adults are warm and supportive and all adults provide good levels of care for children. This enables children to settle quickly and feel secure and safe. Good routines are well established, such as arrangements for providing fruit and drinks and getting ready for lunch.
• Adults plan many activities which develop children’s personal and social skills, such as taking turns, listening to each other and sharing equipment. Adults also help and encourage children to manage their own behaviour.
• Phonics and early reading are taught well. Across the setting, many activities enable children to apply and develop these skills. For example, in a ‘hoopla’ game, children enjoyed trying to throw their hoops over bottles with different letter sounds.
• Early writing and number skills are also developed appropriately. Adults model counting to children well and encourage them to count and recognise numbers. Many activities suitably develop children’s mark-making and early writing skills, for example through drawing, tracing and copying letter shapes.
• Adults praise children for their achievements and provide clear guidance and prompts to help them develop their reading, writing and number skills. However, when talking to children, adults do not consistently shape questions which extend and deepen children’s learning. In addition, during the ‘free-flow’ sessions, some learning activities are not sufficiently well designed to sustain children’s interest or move on their learning.
• Behaviour in the early years is generally very good. Most children listen well and are attentive and responsive to adults and each other. They are keen to please and enjoy showing things they have made to visitors. As one child asked: ‘Would you like to see my octopus? I’ve made it for my brother.’ However, when learning activities are not sufficiently engaging, for example in the outside area, children are less attentive and some become over-boisterous.
• Senior leaders are providing good support to the early years leader, who has only been in post since the beginning of this term. The early years leader has already taken steps to ensure that the provision in the early years is consistent across both classes in the setting, and is working effectively with the other newly appointed early years teacher. Adults carefully and conscientiously track children’s progress and achievement using the school’s electronic ‘learning journeys’.
• Very good partnerships with parents are a strong feature of the early years. Parents are highly positive about the very good start their children have made, and appreciate how well the transition into school has been managed. Parents support their children and the school wonderfully. They make a very good contribution to children’s ‘learning journeys’ by noting and sharing observations about their child’s learning at home. This enables early years’ adults to have a well-rounded understanding of how children are learning outside of school as well as in school.
• Children’s good achievement and settled start to school enable them to be well prepared for Year 1.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 141593 Surrey 10036806 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 Academy converter 4 to 11 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 421 Appropriate authority Board of trustees Chair of the school strategy board Stuart Wilson Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address John Williams 0208 660 2062 www.whyteleafe.surrey.sch.uk/ head@whyteleafeschool.org Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

Information about this school

• 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.
• Whyteleafe is larger than the average-size primary school. There are two classes in each year group. The early years consists of two classes in Reception.
• The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is below the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below the national average.
• Most pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The headteacher was appointed to the school in September 2016.
• There is a breakfast club and an after-school club. These are run by a private company which has separate Ofsted registration.
• The school met the government floor standards in 2016, which are the minimum expectations for standards and progress for pupils in Year 6.
• Whyteleafe is one of 26 schools in the GLF multi-academy trust. The school joined the trust in December 2014.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors observed learning in all classes, some of which were with the headteacher. The lead inspector also made short visits with the headteacher.
• Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, middle leaders and other staff. Inspectors also met with the site manager and school business manager.
• The lead inspector met five members of the school strategy board, including the chair.
• Inspectors listened to pupils read, looked at pupils’ work in books and discussed pupils’ progress and learning with leaders.
• Inspectors held meetings with pupils from Years 2 to 6, had a tour of the school with pupils, spoke to pupils in classes and on the playground during lunchtime and playtime.
• Inspectors took account of the views of parents through discussions before school and the 110 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and 102 free-text responses.
• The views of staff were gathered through discussions with teachers.
• Inspectors checked a wide range of records and documentation relating to: child protection; safeguarding; health and safety; behaviour and attendance; and the recruitment checks made on the suitability of staff to work with children. Inspectors also reviewed other documents, including governors’ visits to the school, minutes and records of meetings, policies, improvement plans and evaluations of teaching and learning.

Inspection team

Sue Cox, lead inspector Nik Cook Matt Batchelor Cassie Buchanan Alison Ashcroft Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector