Lyndhurst Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Lyndhurst Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 25 September 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 the school was judged to be good in November 2014.

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 continued to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

You are ably supported by your deputy and assistant headteachers. Governors provide strong support for the school. They have detailed knowledge about what the school ...does well and what it needs to do to improve further.

However, there are occasions when they have not acted with sufficient urgency to ensure that necessary actions have been taken, for example updating the school's website to meet legal requirements. The school has expertise in dyslexia and this is used to screen all pupils in Year 2. This means that dyslexic pupils are quickly given the extra help they need.

They benefit from excellent opportunities to express their ideas in different ways, including the school's innovative online radio station. The school's dyslexia unit trains teachers and other staff from across London. Children thrive in the early years.

Nursery and Reception children have settled in quickly and happily. Over the last three years, the large majority have achieved a good level of development in Reception. They are well prepared for key stage 1.

Also, for the last three years, pupils have made excellent progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of key stage 2. Pupils' progress in reading and mathematics was well above the national average for the last two years. However, pupils' progress has been weaker in key stage 1.

Last year, leaders were too slow to intervene in key stage 1 when it was apparent that pupils' progress was slowing. The school is a happy, safe and inclusive place. One parent whose child has recently joined the school said, 'The change in my child has been amazing.'

Pupils develop positive attitudes to their learning. Their behaviour is good around the school and in lessons. The previous inspection report identified the need to develop the roles of middle leaders.

You have introduced plans to restructure the staff team and to provide more training and support to middle leaders. However, it is too early to judge the impact of these actions. The report also asked you to improve communications with parents and carers.

You have responded successfully. The large majority now say that they are well informed about their children's progress. One parent commented: 'I have always found the staff to be very approachable; they are good at listening to any concerns I have and responding well to them.'

The previous report asked you to improve pupils' attainment in key stage 1. Given continuing weaknesses in this key stage, it was identified as one of my key lines of enquiry for this inspection. Safeguarding is effective.

The leadership team has ensured that safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, secure and compliant with statutory guidance. You check and accurately record the suitability of staff to work with children. Staff know how to report a concern about a child's safety or welfare.

As some members of staff cannot attend regular safeguarding training, you have arranged additional sessions for them. Leaders work effectively with local services, for example family support officers. Pupils receive rapid support if a problem emerges that their families cannot deal with on their own.

As a result, vulnerable pupils are particularly well cared for. When necessary, you make referrals to external agencies and then check that your concerns are being acted on promptly. The school premises are safe.

Staff diligently supervise the different gates and entrance areas at the start and end of the day. The pupils I spoke to said that they felt safe in school, and their parents agreed. Inspection findings ? At the start of the inspection, we agreed two lines of enquiry.

The first of these was to look at the school's actions to improve pupils' progress in key stage 1, which has continued to be weaker than that in the early years and key stage 2. ? A more rigorous approach to teaching phonics is already having a positive impact. Pupils in Year 1 were observed in an enjoyable and challenging phonics session.

The teacher was careful to check each child's understanding and provide extra help when needed. Pupils who could blend sounds quickly were challenged with more difficult words. For example, after correctly writing 'cow' and 'owl', many of them were able to write 'powder'.

This session met pupils' individual needs so that they could move on quickly in their learning. ? Leaders are also working to improve standards in mathematics in key stage 1. Effective teaching was observed, with highly effective questioning that helped pupils to think about the different methods they might use to solve a problem and to explain their reasoning.

Pupils took part enthusiastically and made strong progress. However, mathematics teaching is not yet fully consistent. At times, pupils are confused because adults do not explain mathematical ideas clearly enough to them.

• Leaders have analysed information about pupils' progress in key stage 1 and reviewed teaching and learning. As yet, however, this information is not being used well to support transition from the early years. As a consequence, some of the teaching in Year 1 is less challenging than in Reception and pupils do not make the progress of which they are capable.

• The second key line of enquiry we agreed to consider was the quality and impact of the curriculum beyond English and mathematics. ? Pupils speak enthusiastically about the subjects they study. Displays in the school celebrate visits made to support their learning, such as a short residential trip to York to learn about the Vikings.

Regular 'science weeks' are highly valued by parents. One parent, representing the views of many, made the following comment about the most recent science week: 'The whole thing was incredibly inspiring. I feel privileged that my children go to this school.'

? The school's curriculum is designed so that pupils can use the skills and knowledge they have learned in English and mathematics in other subjects. For example, Year 5 pupils learned about plotting numbers on charts in their mathematics lessons and then used their skills to record their scientific investigation. ? However, some weaknesses remain.

Whereas the skills and knowledge that pupils will be learning in mathematics are set out in the school's curriculum, this is not the case for other subjects. Additionally, it was evident that pupils' work in science and history books was not completed to the same high standards as their work in mathematics and English. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? they strengthen the roles of middle leaders and secure consistently strong teaching so that pupils in key stage 1 make the same strong progress as others in the school ? pupils achieve the same high standards in the wider curriculum as they do in English and mathematics.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Southwark. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Julian Grenier Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During this inspection, I met with you and other school leaders to discuss the school's work.

I visited 10 lessons with you to observe the quality of teaching and learning. I undertook a work scrutiny with school leaders, looking at samples of work from a range of year groups in classes. I spoke to pupils in lessons about their work and about how safe they feel in school.

I met with five parents on the playground and considered the 96 responses to Parent View. I held a meeting with the chair of the governing body and two other governors. I met with a representative from the local authority.

I evaluated the school's safeguarding procedures. I scrutinised documentation provided by you, including the school's self-evaluation, development plan and current pupil performance information. I considered the 17 staff responses and 117 pupil responses to Ofsted's questionnaires.

Also at this postcode