John Perry Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of John Perry Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 13 December 2018 with Lando Du Plooy, Ofsted inspector, 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 May 2014.

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 successfully remodelled the leadership structure of the school to allow for the increase in pupils on roll.

This restructure has empowered leaders at senior and middle levels to take on more r...esponsibility. You and the governing body hold these leaders to account well for their work and they are rightly proud of their contribution towards the school's improvement. You are realistic about the gains the school has made since the previous inspection and the challenges the school faces.

You use your systems for monitoring and evaluating the school's work effectively to inform your school development plan. You have set challenging targets for the school, and have a committed and willing group of staff who share your high aspirations to achieve these. The school provides a safe and secure environment for pupils.

They are rightly proud of their school, enjoy positive relationships with their teachers and make good progress. Pupils are extremely welcoming to visitors to the school and are keen to talk about their learning. Children in the early years enthusiastically showed inspectors their work and invited inspectors to join in with their learning.

Older pupils proudly showed inspectors the work in their books and talked passionately about their love of reading. One pupil told inspectors, 'We read a pirate book. This book made me think about writing my own book.'

Positive attitudes to learning are a feature of your school. Most parents and carers who responded to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire, are complimentary about the school's work. One parent wrote, 'I don't have a single negative thing to say about this school.

My children adore this school, as do I.' Responses to the staff and pupil questionnaires were equally positive. Pupils typically achieve well in your school.

Pupils in key stages 1 and 2 work at or above the national expected standard. However, more pupils could achieve the higher standard in reading, writing and in mathematics combined at the end of key stage 2. Progress in writing is particularly strong.

Pupils who are disadvantaged often achieve better than their classmates. Teachers ensure that these pupils do not fall behind and regularly check that they understand what they are learning. You are aware that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not always make the progress of which they are capable, but they do make gains in many other ways, such as increased self-esteem and confidence, by the time they leave the school.

The school engages well with parents. Your bespoke workshops for parents have helped them to support their child at home. Topics such as building resilience and phonics have proved to be fruitful.

An increasing number of parents visit the school to attend your 'Stay and play' sessions. On the day of the inspection, inspectors were impressed with the number of parents who attended the three Christmas concerts which celebrated Christmas around the world. Safeguarding is effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Staff are acutely aware of the needs of vulnerable pupils and are well equipped to identify concerns and refer these to the relevant members of staff. Staff receive appropriate training and take account of the latest guidance relating to the safeguarding of children.

Well-maintained child protection documentation is kept secure, and records details of discussions, actions and resolutions. Pupils told inspectors that they feel safe in school and that they have a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. The school is developing a policy around mental health and behaviour support.

Inspection findings ? We looked at how well the school's leaders had addressed the recommendations for improvement identified at the time of the previous inspection. We did this because this is an indication of the impact of leadership over time. Teachers consistently implement your assessment policy.

Inspectors' scrutiny of pupils' books shows that teachers now routinely provide verbal and written guidance as required in your policy. This good-quality guidance clarifies how pupils are able to improve their work. Pupils also assess their own progress and that of their classmates.

This process contributes towards the good progress they make. They say that they find this procedure helpful. ? We looked at whether teaching consistently meets the needs of the most able pupils.

While it is clear that the teaching of writing is a key strength of the school, greater challenge could be presented through teaching to secure even stronger outcomes in reading and in mathematics. This was evident from inspectors' review of pupils' books. ? We wanted to check the rigour with which governors hold leaders to account in ensuring that the school meets its statutory requirements.

This was because the safeguarding policy on the school's website did not make reference to the latest guidance and the information on the sport premium was out of date. ? It is clear that governors were aware of both matters and had already scheduled the ratification of the safeguarding policy. They had also alerted the school's leaders to the lack of an up-to-date sport premium expenditure plan and evaluation.

Discussions with governors and inspectors' review of minutes of governors' meetings show that governors have a clear understanding of their role as the appropriate authority. ? Staff had been presented at the start of the academic year with an up-to-date, but unratified, safeguarding policy. The chair of the governing body checks the school's single central record of recruitment checks termly.

Between them, the governors have a suitable range of skills to enable them to hold leaders to account. Governors' experience includes education, finance and human resources, which puts them in a strong position to offer both challenge and support. Governors hold leaders to account through their committees, but also through their link governor roles.

They have attached themselves to aspects of the school development plan. This gives them a deep insight into how well the school is progressing against its targets. ? We checked the accuracy of teachers' assessments of pupils' writing as these have been consistently high over time.

We also investigated the reasons why key stage 2 pupils' overall progress dipped in 2018 in reading and in mathematics. We also wanted to check that teaching meets the needs of the few pupils who have low prior attainment as historically, this group of pupils have not progressed at a similar rate to their peers. ? Pupils' writing is rightly seen as a strength of teaching.

The work in their books across a range of subjects supports the assessments of pupils' progress in writing. The local authority validated teachers' assessments in 2017. Leaders have identified the need to prepare pupils better when reading texts for inference.

They have also rightly identified the need to strengthen pupils' skills in reasoning in mathematics. Appropriate actions to address these dips feature in the school's improvement plan. Inspectors' scrutiny of pupils' books with low prior attainment shows that this group of pupils are making better progress than previously.

• Finally, inspectors looked at whether pupils' attendance had improved and whether the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent had diminished. In particular, they looked at data for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, as these groups were over-represented in the absence figures. ? Leaders have implemented a range of strategies to encourage regular attendance.

Daily telephone calls are made throughout a pupil's absence. Pupils with improved attendance also receive a reward call. Each class competes to achieve a high rate of attendance, which results in a reward such as a mini-disco or a non-uniform day.

Each classroom door displays the class's attendance rate. ? As a result of these initiatives, pupils' overall attendance has improved, and the attendance of the two focus groups has also improved, but is still not high enough. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? more challenge is provided for the most able pupils in the school in reading and in mathematics ? a greater proportion of pupils achieve the higher standard in reading, writing and in mathematics combined ? the academic outcomes for pupils with SEND improve so that they match those pupils nationally with similar starting points ? they continue the focus on improving pupils' attendance so that it matches at least the national average.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Barking and Dagenham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely John Daniell Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection Inspectors met with you and other senior leaders, the co-chair and one other member of the governing body, and a group of pupils.

Pupils from Years 1 and 6 also read to inspectors. A telephone discussion took place with the school improvement partner. Inspectors visited lessons, accompanied by senior leaders, to observe pupils learning.

A range of documentation was reviewed, including: the school self-evaluation document and improvement plan; information on pupils' achievement; records relating to behaviour and attendance; and minutes of meetings of the governing body. The school's record of recruitment checks of staff was also checked. Inspectors took account of 82 responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View, including 11 free-text responses, 57 responses to the staff survey and 83 responses to the pupil survey.

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