Gwyn Jones Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Gwyn Jones Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 16 October 2018, 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 Gwyn Jones Primary School was judged to be good in June 2014.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Leaders' accurate evaluation of the school's work clearly directs priorities for development and leads to improvements.

This is the second time that Ofsted has judged the school to be good. Congratulations to you and your st...aff on this achievement. You have just returned to work after maternity leave and your deputy headteacher had stepped up in your absence.

Leaders, including governors, demonstrate the capacity to sustain improvement and maintain good standards in your absence. Leaders have effectively tackled weaknesses identified in the previous inspection report. As a result, the percentage of pupils attaining the higher standards in key stage two has shown a significant increase this year.

Determination for pupils to succeed is embedded across the school. Staff use 'Learning Ladders' as an additional assessment tool to monitor pupils' progress and to set targets and challenges. As a result, pupils and staff have clarity about the next steps in pupils' learning.

Pupils and parents speak highly of 'Learning Ladders' and a joint working ethos is being developed between home and school. Your staff speak highly of you and they share your vision and determination to improve standards across the school. Middle leaders thrive on the opportunity to develop their skills further and feel empowered in their roles.

Parents and carers speak highly of the school and are proud of its work. In the survey, all parents who responded confirmed that they would recommend the school to another parent. Safeguarding is effective.

Your leadership team ensures that safeguarding is given a high priority across the school so that all staff understand the key role they play in keeping children safe. Staff are knowledgeable regarding safeguarding issues. They know the schools safeguarding systems and procedures thoroughly.

Staff understand exactly what leaders expect them to do should any safeguarding issues arise. Strong and detailed record-keeping systems are in place. Should any concerns arise, staff who have specific safeguarding responsibilities take swift and effective action.

You have built very effective partnerships with outside agencies in order to safeguard pupils. Your leaders are aware of local issues which could lead to safeguarding concerns. They are prepared and aware of what needs to be done.

You make sure that staff training is regularly updated. Staff receive annual safeguarding training. They also have a secure understanding of radicalisation and extremism.

Governors demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding. They have annual training days to keep up to date. School leaders are trained in safer recruitment and follow these requirements.

Leaders offer guidance to families and provide links to relevant agencies to support families in need of support. During informal discussions with pupils, they told me they feel safe in school and are able to talk to adults about any worries. Staff and pupils have warm professional relationships.

This was observed throughout the school. Parent discussions confirmed their confidence in the school in keeping pupils safe. Inspection findings ? We agreed that during the inspection I would look in particular at how you challenge pupils in their learning, including challenge for most-able pupils in writing.

• In the early years, children are challenged through their learning of phonics. Activities provided take into consideration all ability groups and they extend most-able children in their learning. ? Pupil discussions across the school demonstrates that they are able to talk about their learning using complex technical vocabulary relevant to individual subjects.

• In books sampled across different age groups, the work in them demonstrates teachers' growing ability in planning the next steps for learning for all pupils. As a result, there is evidence of pupils' reasoning skills being challenged successfully. ? Most-able pupils in key stage 2 responded with confidence to challenging questions.

• In some classrooms, teachers' questioning and verbal feedback to pupils facilitated deeper understanding of concepts, for example in upper key stage two classrooms teachers asked pupils to justify their responses and, in a particular literacy lesson, a pupil was asked to 'prove' the effectiveness of a selected word. ? We agreed that I would look at writing both in the early years and key stage one. Writing outcomes in key stage one are in line with national standards, and the level of challenge in writing seen in early years is greater than that seen in Year one.

• Phonics is systematically taught in the early years. This results in pupils confidently having a go at writing simple and complex words. ? In early years, there is evidence of pupils' writing through displays and classroom activities.

Most-able writers are given lots of opportunities to develop their writing skills. The children's work demonstrates that they are working at a good or better level of development. ? In contrast, pupils in key stage one have limited opportunities to practise their writing.

• In discussions, some pupils in key stage one said they wanted more time to write 'stories'. ? The school uses 'Learning Ladders' as an assessment tool. Pupils are able to talk about Learning Ladders and their targets.

Parents positively commented on this assessment tool and said they were now able to support their child at home with their targets. ? Visible progress using targets was seen in books. ? We agreed that I would look at learning behaviours across the school.

• Parents spoken to and those who responded through parent view were very happy with behaviour across the school. I was able to observe appropriate behaviour across the school. ? Pupils were focused on learning in all classrooms.

They asked and answered lots of questions. Enthusiasm for learning is a strength throughout the school. ? The school is a 'Rights Respecting School'.

This is celebrated in classrooms, and pupils talk about what this means regarding their conduct around school. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? there are improved outcomes for writing in key stage one through building-in opportunities for pupils to apply the skills they have learned to more extended pieces of writing ? there is continuity of challenge for children transitioning from early years into key stage one. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for London Borough of Waltham Forest.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Gulcan Asdoyuran Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I met you and with your senior leaders to discuss the school development plan and agreed key lines of enquiry. I met with the designated safeguarding lead, the chair of governors and other governors.

I spoke to a representative from the local authority. I spoke to a group of pupils and to pupils in classrooms, where we also looked at pupils' work. I met middle leaders.

I observed parts of eight lessons, and I was accompanied by you and your senior leaders. I took into consideration the 68 responses to the online survey, Parent View, and 68 free-text comments. I also considered 25 responses to the staff survey.