Peter Gladwin Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Peter Gladwin 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 February 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 created a strong culture of improvement in the school. With your senior leaders, you form a robust team who hold the same values, are mutually supportive and work towards the same goals. The school's motto, 'Dream, Believe..., Achieve', is at the heart of all you do.

Your belief is that every child can achieve. Governors support and have high expectations of your leadership. You have made good use of the local authority's advice to develop and improve the school.

Parents and carers, staff, governors and pupils say that the school has improved since its last inspection. Pupils have positive attitudes towards learning. They say that school is fun.

They particularly enjoy the creative curriculum, mathematics and writing. Pupils appreciate the wide range of clubs and activities available to them at lunchtime and after school. They know they can express their opinions in school and like being able to help others in one of the school's groups, such as the gardening group or the elderly home group.

Pupils enjoy being active, both in school and in the wider community. During the inspection, pupils behaved well in class and around the school. They played cooperatively at breaktime and were proud to follow the Rights Respecting Schools 'charter'.

The school is exceptionally nurturing and places emphasis on the emotional well-being of pupils. Staff support pupils very well and parents appreciate the care that their children receive. Several parents described this aspect of the school as 'amazing'.

You know your school well and have rightly focused on improving teaching and learning in reading, writing and mathematics. In the past two years, your mathematics leader has introduced a new approach to the teaching of mathematics. This has been successfully rolled out across the whole school this year.

Pupils' progress in mathematics is improving. You now need to ensure that all pupils have appropriate stretch and challenge in mathematics. Low-attaining pupils do not always finish their learning tasks and have fewer opportunities to explain and problem-solve than the most able.

Some most able pupils think they could be challenged even further. At the last inspection, leaders were asked to ensure that the new approach of sharing writing expectations was school-wide, boys' interests were used to motivate them to write and teaching was improved further. The English leader has addressed these aspects successfully.

Writing has improved throughout the school, with attainment now well above the national average at the end of key stage 2. Teachers' high expectations for writing, in each year group, have raised standards. Boys enjoy the topics chosen to engage them.

Phonics and reading are strengths in the school and pupils' experience of stories contributes to the high quality of their writing. Teachers have good subject knowledge and, as a result, pupils' use of grammar, spelling and punctuation is becoming more accurate throughout the school, particularly for the most able. However, you would like teachers to be more precise about what pupils need to do next in order to improve their learning.

The quality of pupils' handwriting and presentation needs to improve to complement the content of their writing. Safeguarding is effective. Leaders have ensured that the systems for safeguarding are thorough.

The school's business manager conscientiously ensures that the single central record of recruitment checks on all adults who work in school is carefully maintained. She keeps detailed records of staff's safeguarding training and the school's risk assessments. The care and welfare of pupils have the highest priority for all staff at Peter Gladwin.

Governors monitor safeguarding regularly. Adults are fully aware of how to report any concerns. You keep meticulous records regarding your work with agencies such as social care.

You ensure that the help given by outside agencies is timely and that staff attend all meetings that will support pupils. Pupils understand the importance of attending school regularly and being on time in the morning. They are proud of their attendance and enjoy receiving their reward certificates.

The school's careful monitoring of attendance, clear messages to pupils about its importance to their learning, and personal contact with parents have ensured that attendance is above the national average. The number of exclusions has reduced over time. The response to more-challenging behaviour is now mostly managed without the use of fixed-term exclusion.

You carefully monitor the behaviour of some vulnerable pupils and have put support strategies in place. Pupils, parents and staff say that the school is a safe place. Pupils trust staff and say there is always someone they can talk to if they have any worries.

You have taught pupils how to keep themselves safe when online. Although a small number of parents have concerns, pupils say there is very little bullying and, if any does occur, it is swiftly managed by staff. Inspection findings ? The inspection focused on: safeguarding; pupils' progress in mathematics; the effectiveness of the support provided for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); and how well the curriculum contributes to pupils' learning.

• Pupils like the new approach to mathematics. They feel their learning is more enjoyable than it was in the past. Pupils particularly appreciate having help to understand any of their misconceptions in a lesson, later in the same day.

This has been instrumental in improving pupils' knowledge and confidence in mathematics, across the school. Additional support provided before school and through interventions helped pupils to make stronger progress in key stage 2, last year. Similar strategies are beginning to have an impact in key stage 1, where pupils' progress has been slower.

• Staff have welcomed the training in the new approach to mathematics teaching. As a result, teachers' subject knowledge is good. Teachers use mathematical vocabulary confidently and their questions encourage pupils to think and explain their reasoning.

Classrooms are vibrant, provide high-quality practical resources, and support for pupils' learning. Pupils appreciate their environment and make good use of the prompts and materials for learning provided for them. ? You have used your funding to provide additional support and opportunities for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND; consequently, they have the same opportunities as other pupils.

They are making progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the same rate as other pupils and some are making stronger progress. ? Your special educational needs coordinator focuses on pupils with SEND from their first days in school. You provide a wide range of learning and emotional support programmes.

Good use is made of the school's intervention rooms for group work. These rooms are also used by external agencies who provide support for specific pupils. Several parents said how much they appreciate this help.

• The curriculum is rich and makes a positive contribution to pupils' learning. Pupils recognise that the Friday afternoon enrichment activities bring together the learning from all subjects that has taken place during the week. Pupils are proud of the work they produce during these sessions.

One parent, expressing the views of many, said, 'This school is pupil centred, with a strong learning ethic and a varied curriculum. A lot of thought has been given to making the curriculum interesting.' ? Topic themes are shared by two year groups.

You ensure the learning within the topic is tailored to each individual year group, and that pupils are working with the national curriculum's content for their specific year. There are good opportunities to explore and enjoy the arts. A cross-curricular approach provides purpose for many writing tasks and, also, opportunities for applying mathematics to solve problems.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? all pupils are appropriately stretched and challenged in mathematics ? teachers provide pupils with more-precise information about how to improve their writing ? pupils improve the quality of their handwriting and presentation. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Brighton and Hove. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Lesley Corbett Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, other leaders, three governors, a group of pupils and the school's business manager. I telephoned a representative of the local authority. I visited all the classes in the school with you to observe teaching and learning.

I also considered 12 responses to Ofsted's staff questionnaire. I took account of 73 responses to Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, including 67 free-text comments. I analysed a range of the school's documents, including: leaders' self-evaluation and improvement planning; minutes of the governing body's meetings; and safeguarding checks, policies and procedures.

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