Southfields Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school. Adults care about their pupils and pupils are friendly and considerate to each other.

Adults play and talk with pupils outside at breaktimes. Pupils are cheerful as they play together. They are almost always calm and attentive in classrooms because they want to learn.

On the few occasions when individual pupils do not behave well, adults are on hand and are quick to sort things out. Pupils trust the adults in the school. They know that bullying is rare and, if it happens, it will be dealt with.

Teachers know the pupils in their class well and keep a close eye on how they are doing. If pupils fall behind in reading ...or mathematics, they are given extra help to catch up.

Pupils grow in confidence in this school.

Teachers encourage them to read lots of books and they often read to pupils in class. Pupils in the CARES (school pupil welfare) team take responsibility for helping other pupils to be happy in school. Pupils enjoy school trips, especially when they stay away overnight.

They say this helps them to get on even better with each other. Pupils like learning to play musical instruments and taking part in performances.

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

This school wants pupils to be knowledgeable and confident.

Teachers almost always plan pupils' work so that it is right for them. Teachers help pupils to understand and explain the meaning of difficult texts. Pupils use exactly the right mathematical words when describing how to solve problems.

They learn skills in science that help them to understand and explain scientific patterns and processes in the world around them. Pupils can do this because knowledge is taught in the correct order. This is true in almost all subjects, but in history, sometimes younger pupils are given harder work than older pupils because teachers' planning is not well sequenced.

This means that pupils do not learn as much in history as they do in other subjects.

Teachers encourage pupils to read a lot in lessons. Younger pupils are introduced to books as soon as they start school.

Staff make sure that each pupil practises reading every day so that they can manage to read more difficult books over time. This means that most children do well during their time in the Reception class, although a small number of children could do even better. Teachers know when pupils need extra help to keep up, and they provide it quickly.

In Years 5 and 6, pupils' reading skills have improved, although a small number of them have not had enough opportunities to talk and write confidently about what they have read.

In almost all lessons, pupils behave well. Very occasionally, pupils disrupt the learning of other pupils, but teachers told us that school leaders are helping them to get better at dealing with this.

Pupils in the CARES team look after other pupils. We saw one of them help a younger pupil to find her lunch box, while another explained how he hoped to use his caring skills in secondary school. Pupils understand justice and can explain why they consider the school's behaviour management system to be fair.

Some pupils discuss current affairs and could explain recent Parliamentary events clearly.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well because leaders make sure their teachers know how to support them well. Their 'Big Strides' books provide up-to-date information for parents, carers and teachers, as well as for the other adults who support them.

Many parents say how pleased they are with the way the school communicates with them. Parents of children in the Reception class in particular like the regular updates from teachers because they help them to support their child's learning. Governors know their school well.

They value the work of the headteacher and her staff. Leaders provide training to help teachers to teach lessons well, and check that this leads to pupils achieving more. Leaders expect staff to work hard, but staff said that leaders' expectations are reasonable.

Staff in the Reception class talk to children in a precise and thoughtful way that helps them to learn quickly. They also make sure that children practise reading every day, checking that they are becoming better readers, and helping most of them to catch up if necessary by giving them additional opportunities to practise. This means that most children achieve well, but a small number of them do not learn quickly enough because staff do not always find the best way to help them.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff are well trained to know how to keep pupils safe. They are clear about what they need to do if they are concerned about a child's safety.

Pupils trust staff and are comfortable to raise concerns with them. Pupils are taught how to keep safe, especially when using the internet. The school carries out checks on employees and volunteers who come into school to be sure that they are suitable to work with pupils.

Governors check regularly that school safeguarding procedures are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Some pupils cannot understand more challenging text sufficiently well because they are unable to talk or write about it confidently. More pupils need to be able to understand a wide range of age-appropriate texts and explain their meaning.

. In history, teachers' planning is not as well sequenced as in other subjects. Some learning is not planned coherently.

Teachers need to be able to help pupils build on what they already know so that they deepen their understanding.In the Reception class, a small number of children do not achieve well enough. Staff need to be able to find the best way to support every child to do well more of the time.