Parkfield Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Parkfield Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2019, 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 July 2015.

This school continues to be good. The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and the deputy headteacher provide effective and purposeful leadership.

You have created a strong and sustainable team. You have supported leaders effectively, developing their skills and knowledge to enable them to make improvements in th...eir areas of responsibility. Members of the governing body and The Elliot Foundation trust leaders have an excellent understanding of the needs of the school community and are supporting leaders to continue to improve the school.

The capacity for continued improvement is good. Leaders have high aspirations for pupils and there is a clear vision for the further development of the school. At the heart of this is the drive to ensure that pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes they need to be ready for the next stage of their education.

Together, with staff, you have created a nurturing ethos, with high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Pupils' behaviour is excellent across the school and this is reflected in calm and purposeful learning environments. Parkfield is an inclusive and caring school.

Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school to experience a rich and engaging curriculum. One pupil stated, 'At Parkfield you get to take part in lots of fun learning;' another pupil offered the view that 'it's the perfect school'. Pupils' progress has improved in reading and writing and there are signs of improvement in mathematics; but overall, their attainment remains below average.

Disadvantaged pupils are supported well and the pupil premium grant is used effectively to close attainment gaps. As a result of this, disadvantaged pupils performed better than their peers in 2018. Teaching has continued to improve since the previous inspection.

Leaders regularly monitor the quality of teaching and provide teachers with support to improve the quality of their teaching. This has contributed towards greater consistency across the school, especially in the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics. The impact of these improvements on pupils' outcomes were my key lines of enquiry for this inspection.

You have responded effectively to the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection. Improved provision for the most able pupils has resulted in more pupils achieving high standards across the school. Even so, it remains the case that some teaching does not present the most able pupils with sufficient challenge, and this remains a priority.

Governors bring a range of experience and expertise to their roles. They have high ambitions for the school and ensure that there is a good balance of challenge and support for school leaders. In addition, The Elliot Foundation multi-academy trust has provided additional support and challenge to ensure that the school has continued to improve.

Safeguarding is effective. You and your staff make sure that pupils feel safe and are kept safe at school. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

The designated safeguarding lead works effectively with external agencies to provide effective support for vulnerable pupils. High-quality safeguarding records are detailed and organised effectively. School staff are aware of the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about a pupil's welfare.

Concerns reported are dealt with swiftly to support pupils' safety. Regular training means that staff are fully aware of current safeguarding legislation and their responsibilities. Pupils feel safe in school and have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

They have a good awareness of how to stay safe online, and the potential dangers they could be exposed to when using the Internet. Inspection findings ? For my first key line of enquiry, we agreed to focus on the impact of leaders' work to improve pupils' outcomes in mathematics. This was because, for the last three years, the attainment of pupils at the end of key stage 2 has been below the national average.

• Leadership of mathematics is strong and this has resulted in developments in the quality of mathematics teaching across the school. Pupils are given regular opportunities to develop their fluency in mathematics and there is lots of evidence of this in pupils' books. There has also been an increased focus on developing pupils' reasoning skills, although this is not yet consistent and sustained across the school.

Leaders need to check that pupils have regular opportunities to record their mathematical reasoning. ? These improvements are beginning to have a positive impact on standards in mathematics across the school. In 2018, pupils' attainment at the end of key stage 1 was average; and while pupils' attainment at the end of key stage 2 remained below average, the results showed some improvement in their progress.

Work in pupils' books shows that current pupils are making good progress in mathematics from their starting points. ? The second key line of enquiry explored the effectiveness of the school's work to secure improvements in pupils' writing. In 2018, at the end of key stage 2, the proportion of pupils able to write at the expected standard was broadly average, but pupils' writing remains a school priority.

• The school has changed its approach to the teaching of writing. The curriculum has been redesigned with the aim of providing more opportunities for pupils to write at length in a range of subjects. Pupils' enjoyment and enthusiasm have improved as a result of this approach and they now feel that they are writing with a sense of purpose and a specific audience.

• Work in their books and on display around the school shows that pupils' progress and attainment in writing have improved. The school maintains portfolios which showcase pupils' writing and reflect the school's rich and vibrant curriculum. ? The final key line of enquiry was to evaluate school leaders' work to develop pupils' reading skills.

Standards in reading have improved across the school and in 2018 pupils' attainment and progress at the end of Year 2 were broadly similar to the national average. At the end of Year 6, their attainment in reading has improved for the last three years, but is still below national levels. ? The introduction of high-quality texts as part of the curriculum has exposed pupils to a wider range of authors and genres.

This has also enabled the development of pupils' vocabulary and understanding of what they are reading. Pupils spoke with enthusiasm about the wide range of books they have read in school. ? This has resulted in an improvement in the reading ability of current pupils across the school.

However, there are still many pupils who do not read widely enough out of school. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the teaching of reasoning in mathematics is consistent, challenges the most able pupils and there is evidence of this in pupils' books ? parents are supported to enable pupils to read a broad range of challenging texts outside of school ? the strong curriculum is developed further as a framework for inspiring pupils to continue to improve the quality of their writing. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the chair of the board of trustees and the chief executive officer of the multi-academy trust, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Barnet.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Nicholas Cornell Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection During the inspection, I held meetings with you and members of your leadership team. I met with three representatives from the multi-academy trust and spoke to the chair of governors by telephone.

These discussions included an analysis of your self-evaluation and your priorities for improvement. I spoke to pupils informally and formally about their experiences at school. I made visits to lessons with school leaders and looked at pupils' books across a range of subjects.

I considered the views of parents and free-text responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire, Parent View. I reviewed a range of documents including the school development plan, school self-evaluation records and records of school leaders' monitoring. I reviewed your safeguarding arrangements, including the school's records of checks on adults working in school.