Parkfield Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The headteacher and other leaders, including governors, are ambitious and have a clear vision for the school.

Their leadership has been effective in bringing about improvements in the quality of teaching and achievement of pupils, which are good. The governors are effective in supporting and challenging the senior leaders to ensure the school develops and improves. Leaders and managers check the progress of pupils closely and often to ensure all groups of pupils, including disabled pupils, those with special educational needs and disadvantaged pupils, make good progress.

As a result of good teaching, pupils make good progress in reading,... writing and mathematics from their low starting points. Standards at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 are improving. Teaching assistants are effective in their roles.

They work well with teachers to create a positive working environment, and to ensure that pupils make good progress, particularly the weaker attainers. The behaviour of the pupils is good. Pupils have good attitudes to learning.

They say they feel safe, and that staff keep them safe. The school is highly effective in promoting pupils' social, moral, spiritual and cultural development. Pupils are taught about British values, and are prepared well for life in modern Britain.

The early years provides an excellent start for children. The quality of teaching is outstanding, and children make outstanding progress from their low starting points. When the children leave the Reception, they are prepared well for Year 1.

The Elliot Foundation provides strong and highly effective support to the school. It ensures, for example, that leadership and management are strong and the quality of teaching is improving. It is not yet an outstanding school because : The most able pupils are not always challenged sufficiently, and do not make the progress of which they are capable.

Sometimes, teachers' marking of pupils' work does not give clear steps about how it can be improved, and pupils lack time to respond to comments to improve their work. Pupils do not always write at length to improve their writing skills. Pupils do not always have sufficient time to extend their thinking and reasoning skills to deepen their understanding, particularly in mathematics.

The quality of communication with a few groups of parents is not always effective to ensure that they are fully kept informed about their children's progress and the work of the school.

Information about this school

Parkfield Primary School is larger than the average-sized primary school. The school converted to become an academy sponsored by the Elliot Foundation on 1 August 2013.

When its predecessor school, Parkfield Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be requiring special measures. The school has a part-time Nursery and two full-time Reception classes. Pupils come from a wide range of ethnic groups, with the largest group being from Any Other White background.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is well above average. The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is average. The pupil premium is additional government funding given to schools for disadvantaged pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or children who are in local authority care.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is average. Many more pupils than in most schools join or leave the school other than at the normal times. A large proportion of pupils joining the school have additional needs, and most are at early stages of learning English as an additional language.

The school runs a breakfast club during term time, which is managed by the governing body. The school has recently been awarded the silver level of the London Healthy Schools Award. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.