Frithwood Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Frithwood Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 February 2019, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings.

The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in March 2015. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

You have secured an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development and established a team of senior and middle leaders. Many leaders are new to the role this year and are eager to learn. The team is systematic ...in its approach to school improvement, and works well together.

Leaders work alongside colleagues to coach and support them in their classroom practice. As a result, leaders are starting to have measurable impact on the progress of pupils, particularly disadvantaged pupils and the most able. You have addressed the areas for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection.

However, you recognise that there is still work to be done to embed the correct level of challenge in all subjects in the way you have done in English and mathematics. The atmosphere around the school is calm and purposeful. Pupils demonstrate mature and inquisitive attitudes to learning.

They told us about how much they value their teachers. Pupils reported that they enjoy coming to school and welcome the opportunities that they are given. They are ambitious for their future, and acknowledge that what they learn every day counts.

Safeguarding is effective. Designated safeguarding leaders are highly effective. They have made sure that staff are trained in reporting concerns about pupils.

This means that pupils are well cared for. Records are kept meticulously, and there are strong partnerships with external services. As a result, issues are followed up effectively and quickly.

Policies and procedures are up to date and regularly scrutinised by governors to ensure that they meet statutory requirements. The single central record meets requirements. There have been recent changes to the school entrance that have made the site more secure.

The curriculum is well planned to support pupils' understanding of how to stay safe. They talk confidently about topics such as 'stranger danger' and online safety. They understand how these issues connect and the impact they have on how live their lives.

Pupils said that they feel safe in school and trust adults there to help them. Inspection findings ? The first key line of enquiry focused on how well the school uses the pupil premium grant to support disadvantaged pupils. This was because in 2018 they did less well than their peers at the end of key stage 2.

• Changes this year to how the funding is allocated show that there is a clear understanding of barriers to learning for these pupils. Additional support is well targeted, and has an impact. Outcomes in books show that there are universally high expectations and equality of opportunity for all pupils.

Disadvantaged pupils achieve in line with their peers. ? Leaders have refined the way they track, monitor and evaluate interventions for disadvantaged pupils. This means that support can be changed and adapted, as needed.

As a result, no time is wasted and progress is strengthened. ? In addition to the academic support and rigour that are in place for this group, leaders have ensured that pastoral input is of an equally high quality. Consequently, pupils' behaviour and attitudes are strongly improving.

Pupils are ready to learn and keen to do so. ? The second key line of enquiry focused on whether teachers have high enough expectations of most-able pupils. This was an area for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection, and one where leaders have made improvements in provision.

• Leaders started by gaining an accurate understanding of the strengths and areas of the provision for the most able. They used this information to tailor training for staff. This ensured that staff have the skills and subject knowledge they need to stretch these pupils.

High-quality questioning, as well as the use of challenging concepts and aspirational texts, means that pupils can think and reason maturely in lessons. This has led to more pupils working at the higher standard in English and mathematics. ? Pupils appreciate that teachers plan learning to challenge them.

They enjoy the way they learn new and increasingly complex ideas in subjects such as science and art. However, this is not the case across all subjects, and there are occasions when work is still too easy for the most able pupils. ? Pupils understand and use teachers' feedback well to improve their outcomes and take responsibility for their improvements.

Their pride in improving continually, and their desire to do so, is evident in their books. Pupils know how to find and use additional resources in lessons, and use them well to expand on concepts, in mathematics particularly. Occasionally, there is a mismatch between the additional activities and the main learning topic or event.

Leaders are working to improve the curriculum in this aspect. ? The final line of enquiry was to explore whether subject leaders are effectively improving standards across different subjects. This is identified in the school's own self-evaluation, as there are a number of new leaders in post.

• Subject leaders have detailed plans, and have thought about how they want to improve the curriculum in their subjects at each key stage. They have designed assessment tools to help them evaluate pupils' progress. ? Leaders work well as a team, and design the curriculum for each year group together.

This means that some subjects, for example geography, can be taught thematically and skills, knowledge and understanding can be built on as pupils progress through the school. ? Your leaders are developing an understanding of school leadership through the lens of their own subject. They understand their accountability and recognise that it is too early to quantify the impact of their actions on pupils' outcomes.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that they: ? develop subject leaders' effectiveness so that they have a marked impact on standards across the curriculum ? embed the approaches used in English and mathematics to challenge the most able pupils to reach the higher standard in all subjects. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Hillingdon. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Karen Matthews Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I held meetings with you, senior leaders and other members of staff. I met with six governors, including the chair of the governing body. I spoke with a representative from the local authority.

I met with pupils from key stages 1 and 2. I visited lessons across the school with senior leaders to gather evidence about the key lines of enquiry and to look at pupils' work. We considered documents, including the school's self-evaluation and improvement plan, information about the use of pupil premium funding, information about pupils' progress and documents relating to safeguarding.

I looked at information on the school's website. We analysed the confidential responses to the online inspection surveys from 27 members of staff and 143 pupils. I also took into account the views of 139 parents who completed Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, and 68 free-text responses.