Kensington Avenue Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this diverse school. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Pupils know that staff care and want them to do well.

However, pupils, including in early years, require more help to achieve the academic success they are capable of.

Most pupils behave well in lessons. Pupils know routines and usually respond positively to behaviour reminders.

They like getting 'class points' for making good choices. Pupils like that playtimes are calmer due to having more play equipment and referees for competitive games. However, some younger pupils are unsettled by the anti-social behaviours of some older pupils.

They know adults wil...l sort worries and that behaviour incidents are reducing, yet some unwelcome behaviours persist. Too many pupils are regularly absent from school.

Pupils make a positive contribution to the local community.

They have displayed work at the Croydon art fair. Pupils take on additional responsibilities as members of the school council, playground buddies or travel ambassadors. They benefit from trips that they may otherwise not experience, such as to London landmarks, museums and the zoo.

Pupils decide which extra-curricular clubs they would like. Visits from the emergency and rescue services help them understand how to keep safe.

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

Pupils study a broad range of subjects.

In some subjects, staff understand clearly the building blocks of knowledge and when to teach them. However, this is not the case in all subjects. Due to changes in staffing, some teachers are still getting to grips with curriculum content and how it builds on prior learning.

This means some pupils, including in early years, are not learning knowledge across the curriculum in the detail or depth needed to fully prepare them for the next stage of their education.

Staff plan interesting activities. However, they do not routinely use checks on learning to gauge what pupils have remembered.

Across the school, activities are not sufficiently adapted or extended to meet pupils' needs, including for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Teachers do not address misconceptions consistently. The school does not always precisely match additional support to pupils' needs.

As a result, some pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge.

Pupils like reading. The school has introduced a new phonics programme and provided appropriate training for staff.

This is having a positive impact. Pupils in the younger years read books that are closely matched to the sounds that they are practising. Staff spot pupils who need extra help swiftly.

However, the reading curriculum and support for weaker readers in older year groups is not as effective.Gaps in older pupils' reading knowledge are, therefore, not filled as quickly. While leaders have recognised this, work has not yet started to address this.

The school identifies pupils with SEND in a timely way. Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that pupils who attend the specialist provision receive the help they need. Pupils with SEND have personalised learning plans.

However, the targets the school sets for pupils are often not specific enough, including in early years. Therefore, additional support for pupils with SEND in the main school and in early years does not always meet their exact needs. This limits how well they achieve.

Many pupils behave well in lessons and in the playground. The school is taking effective action to reduce the use of inappropriate language and the number of physical incidents. It has introduced a 'behaving safely' agreement for older pupils.

However, while there has been a reduction in behaviour incidents, they do still regularly re-occur for certain pupils.

There are too many pupils who are not attending school regularly. The school is working with families and agencies to address this.

This has had some success with individual pupils. However, there is currently not an improving picture regarding attendance overall.

There is a well-designed personal, health, social and economic education curriculum in place, starting in early years.

Pupils learn about different relationships and the importance of respecting others. They gain an age-appropriate understanding of consent. Pupils understand different cultures and religions.

They know how to stay safe online. They are being prepared well for life in modern Britain.

Most staff, including those at the early stages of their careers, feel well supported by leaders to manage their workload and well-being.

Leaders and staff show resilience in managing the more challenging aspects of their roles.

Leaders, including governors and trustees, know their school well. Sometimes, due partly to unforeseen circumstances, leaders have not provided sufficient strategic oversight of the curriculum or other aspects of their school development plan.

This has hindered the extent to which leaders have been able to address some aspects of school improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils who need help to manage their behaviours safely have clear support plans.

There are risk assessments in place for pupils with more challenging behaviour. This includes pupils who access specific areas to help them manage their behaviour safely. However, leaders and governors do not review the strategies and risk assessments in place routinely to ensure that all staff are clear about who accesses specific areas, for example the 'soft room,' and what the purpose and rationale is for this.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders, including governors, have limited oversight of the school curriculum. This has hindered the ongoing strategic direction of the school. The school needs to ensure that areas for curriculum improvement can be addressed sustainably.

• In some subjects, the curriculum is not sufficiently clear on how knowledge builds over time or how it deepens what pupils have learned before. Teachers do not focus consistently on ensuring that pupils learn the most important concepts and subject knowledge. This means pupils do not develop a secure body of knowledge in these subjects.

The school should ensure that the knowledge pupils need to remember, and how this builds over time, is identified precisely, including for early years. ? Teaching for pupils with SEND and for older pupils who are weaker readers is not always specific enough to meet pupils' needs. This means that these pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school should ensure that teachers routinely ensure that pupils with SEND, and those older readers who have fallen behind with their reading, are provided with learning activities and/or interventions that match their precise needs. ? Teachers do not routinely use their checks on what pupils can already do and remember to adapt teaching and inform their planning. This also applies in the early years.

As a result, pupils are not provided with learning that extends their knowledge. The school needs to ensure that all staff use assessment effectively to adapt lessons and provision to meet all the needs in their class well. ? Too many pupils are not attending school regularly.

This means they are missing out on their education. The school needs to continue its work to work with families and external agencies to overcome barriers to pupils attending school, so that attendance improves. ? While arrangements for safeguarding are effective, the school should ensure that policies and practices used to manage challenging behaviours are clearly known and understood by all staff and that the risk assessments in place are regularly checked and reviewed.

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