Coppermill Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Coppermill Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Coppermill is a school where everyone gets to know each other really well. It is described by many as feeling like a village in the heart of the city.

Pupils, parents and carers all appreciate the school's welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. It is a place where every pupil is known, heard and understood. This makes the school a special part of the local community.

Pupils enjoy school and achieve well. Their behaviour in lessons and at other times is excellent. They rise to the high expectations set for them.

Pupils are keen to get stuck into their learning. They jump at... the chance to talk about their work and share their ideas. Pupils particularly like the way that staff make learning meaningful and relevant to them.

For example, in mathematics, pupils used all sorts of prior knowledge to plan and design their business models for the upcoming enterprise fair. In geography, pupils in Year 6 were enthused to spend time studying a selection of local area maps to see how the features of Walthamstow have changed over the last two hundred years.

Pupils take part in a wide variety of exciting activities which help them to understand the part they play in society.

Pupils are proud that Coppermill recently won a prestigious award for its work on sustainability. They particularly enjoyed having the chance to work with an architect to design buildings for the future. Their work is displayed at a London gallery for others to learn from.

The school's emphasis on high-quality literature makes a real and important contribution to Coppermill's ethos. For example, the recent whole-school focus on the text, 'Red – A Crayon's Story', is just one example of how pupils throughout the school learn about themselves and others through themes, such as identity.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Pupils are keen to learn and they work hard.

Pupils achieve well, particularly in English and mathematics. This is reflected by the high-quality work in pupils' books in each year group as well as the standards reached in external assessments at the end of Year 6.Pupils build up their knowledge securely.

They use what they have been taught previously to help them to tackle new things. For example, in mathematics, pupils used multiplication facts and fractions accurately to help them tell the time to five-minute intervals. Pupils' secure knowledge of division and subtraction helped them to convert imperial and metric units of measure.

The school has worked to continually improve the curriculum. For example, since the previous inspection, the school's science curriculum has been developed further with a strong emphasis on developing pupils' knowledge and skills over time. The school's curriculum is ambitious.

It is sequenced to allow pupils to build and deepen their knowledge of different concepts. It all begins in the early years. For example, children in Reception created 'bug hotels' for the creatures in the garden.

They used the magnifying glasses to spot the differences between the woodlouse and the spider. Meanwhile, another group talked to the 'passengers' in the pretend airport about their forthcoming flight to Australia. They remembered what they had been taught about animals and climate as they made koalas and eucalyptus leaves from dough.

In Year 2, pupils categorised animals effectively. Pupils knew, for example, why polar bears have thick white fur and that camels close their nostrils to keep out the sand. Older pupils debated the impact of deforestation and the part they could play in reducing it.

In most subjects, the school has established procedures to find out what pupils know and can do. But in a few subjects, the school is working out how to check that pupils know and remember the intended content of the curriculum.

Leaders ensure that staff are well trained and have the subject knowledge needed to deliver the curriculum effectively.

Staff feel extremely well supported by leaders, governors and each other. This all contributes to the highly positive relationships throughout Coppermill. Everyone is focused on helping pupils to become fluent and confident readers.

The phonics programme is delivered consistently well. Pupils, especially those who are at risk of falling behind, get the help they need to learn to read and spell accurately. The school's work to identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is well established.

Staff are well trained to help these pupils to achieve success. In the Nursery, staff used children's interests, such as food, to motivate them to take part and learn. Further up the school, staff spend time with pupils to introduce and explain new words that they will need for future learning.

Pupils' rates of attendance are high. Their positive attitudes ensure that everyone gets the chance to learn without any fuss. Pupils who need extra support to manage their feelings and emotions get the help they need.

This helps them to get back on track whenever they become upset or anxious. Pupils look out for each other. For example, in the early years, children advised each other about how to solve problems with the paints without being asked.'

Junior ambassadors' help the youngest pupils with their learning and friendships.

Pupils are taught in meaningful and age-appropriate ways about important themes, such as keeping themselves safe, healthy relationships and equality. Pupils contribute to the life of the school.

For example, pupils organise events to raise funds for charities. Pupils on the eco-council were the force behind implementing a whole-school sustainability action plan. Representatives on the school council make a real difference.

For example, they have recently worked hard to establish different zones in the playground at lunchtimes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few of the foundation subjects, the school's approaches for checking what pupils know and can do over time are not firmly established.

Where this is the case, this can sometimes affect how well pupils develop their knowledge. The school should continue its work to ensure that, in these subjects, everyone is clear about how to check that pupils know and remember important concepts before moving on to new content.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we the school to be good in January 2019.