All Saints Benhilton CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of All Saints Benhilton CofE Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 July 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 July 2015. This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

Leaders are united in driving improvements to ensure that pupils secure the best possible outcomes. Leaders are honest and accurate in identifying strengths and areas where further improvement is necessary. Middle leaders are p...assionate and knowledgeable about the subjects they lead.

They support their colleagues well to ensure that teaching and learning meet the needs of pupils across a wide range of subjects. Leaders at all levels have sought training opportunities to enhance their ability to support teachers and support staff. Pupils across the school engage in enthusiastic discussions about their work.

They respond to teachers' probing questions with confidence. They show no fear in making mistakes as they know that their teachers will support them to develop their understanding. Pupils are courteous, articulate and confident.

Typical of their comments was: 'If I struggle at something, I know teachers will help me overcome it and to succeed.' You have successfully addressed all the areas for improvement identified by the previous inspection. You have invested in training and resources to ensure that handwriting is taught consistently in all year groups.

Across the school, pupils take extra care in ensuring that their work is neatly presented. You have also improved the way school improvement plans and targets for development are drawn up. You have sought the support of the local authority to ensure that such plans include actions which are specific and measurable.

Governors have the right combination of skills and experience to provide sharp and timely challenge to leaders. Their accurate evaluation of the work of the school and of leaders enables them to deploy resources strategically. Governors use their regular visits to school to check and monitor leaders' actions.

They demand from leaders that all pupils secure the best possible outcomes. Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

You regularly check that the school site is safe and secure. You have put in place arrangements to ensure that visitors receive detailed information on the school's safeguarding procedure when they arrive at the school. Your arrangements for checking the suitability of new members of staff to work with children are thorough.

Leaders and governors ensure that statutory requirements are followed whenever you seek to recruit staff. All staff and governors receive regular training, which gives them a clear understanding of how to keep pupils safe. In addition to required training, you have also equipped staff with training on issues that are pertinent to your community.

Records relating to safeguarding are organised, detailed, up to date and fit for purpose. The pupils I spoke to during the inspection told me that they feel safe in school. They were able to describe a range of opportunities within the curriculum to learn how to keep themselves safe at home, at school or when online.

Pupils say that bullying is rare, and if it does happen, teachers and staff are prompt to deal with it. Inspection findings ? During our initial discussion, we identified reading in key stage 2 as a key line of enquiry. This was because in the past the progress pupils made in this subject was not as strong as it was in writing and mathematics.

Leaders are aware of this and they recently reviewed the way reading is taught across the school. ? Pupils have good opportunities to read a wide variety of texts. Teachers ensure that pupils have access to a range of reading materials, with books of different types and genres.

Pupils display a genuine love of reading. They talk about their class reading books with enthusiasm. Pupils I heard read did so fluently and expressively.

They used a wide range of strategies to work out new or unfamiliar words. ? Teachers are effective at checking that pupils understand what they are reading. They offer effective support, which enables them to develop the more sophisticated reading skills of inference and deduction.

As a result, pupils make strong progress in reading. However, pupils, particularly the most able pupils, are not stretched and challenged enough to enable a higher proportion of them to achieve greater depth standards in key stage 2. ? We also looked at mathematics across the school.

We wanted to see what accounts for the strong progress pupils make in this subject. Mathematics is a strength of the school. In key stage 1, pupils are supported through a well-sequenced series of lessons to make strong progress in mathematics.

Teachers ensure that pupils develop appropriate vocabulary, which they then use when reasoning mathematically. They are effective at identifying resources and strategies to develop pupils' strong understanding of number. They check whether pupils understand mathematical concepts by posing questions in a variety of ways.

Teachers develop pupils' calculation skills well. Most-able pupils are challenged appropriately so they are able to deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts. As a result, the proportion of pupils who achieved the expected and greater depth standards in mathematics in key stage 1 has been above the national average in the past two years.

• In key stage 2, pupils excel and enjoy themselves in mathematics lessons. Teachers offer effective guidance to deepen pupils' understanding of mathematical concepts. They ensure that pupils get plenty of opportunities to practise and consolidate skills regularly and are therefore able to achieve mastery.

They relish the challenge within the activities their teachers prepare for them. Pupils show well-developed mathematical reasoning skills. Consequently, the proportion of pupils who met expected and greater depth standards in mathematics has been above the national average in the past three years.

• Finally, we looked at the early years. This was because there had been significant changes in the leadership and staffing in this phase. Leaders and governors have deployed additional resources and personnel in the early years to ensure that outcomes for children are not adversely affected by such changes.

Children in the early years continue to engage and achieve well in a purposeful learning environment. Teachers and additional adults intervene effectively to support and extend children's learning across all areas of development. They ensure that children have a wide range of opportunities to enrich their communication and language skills.

As a result, the proportion of children who achieve a good level of development remains similar to the national average. ? Teachers plan plenty of opportunities for children to develop their early reading, writing and mathematical skills. Across the early years, children independently access learning opportunities to develop and consolidate these skills.

During this inspection, for example, children were choosing equipment found indoors and outdoors to work out some addition problems. Children make strong progress over time, which enables a high proportion of them to achieve the early learning goals in reading, writing and mathematics. However, there remain fewer boys than girls who meet or exceed the early learning goals in writing.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? in key stage 2, pupils, particularly the most able pupils, are challenged consistently well to enable a higher proportion to achieve the greater depth standard in reading ? in the early years, boys are well supported to enable a higher proportion of them to achieve or exceed the early learning goal in writing. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Southwark, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Sutton. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Edison David Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection I discussed the work of the school with you and with members of the senior leadership team. I spoke to pupils to discuss their experiences in lessons, the extent to which they feel safe, and their views on learning and behaviour. I held discussions with a representative of the local authority.

I considered 98 responses to Ofsted's parent survey, 27 responses to the staff survey and 118 responses to the pupil survey. I met with governors, including the chair of the governing body. I also considered documentation provided by the school and information posted on the school's website.

I looked at the single central record of staff suitability checks and the school's analysis of pupils' attendance and behaviour. Together with school leaders, I visited classes to observe learning and looked at samples of pupils' work. I listened to pupils read from across the ability range.