Southwark Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school

Diversity is celebrated and everyone is accepted for who they are at Southwark Park. Pupils and their families develop strong relationships with staff from the moment they join the school.

Pupils trust the adults who work with them. This helps to ensure pupils are kept safe in school.

Pupils behave well in class and around the school.

They treat each other with patience and respect. Pupils talk about how they enjoy learning. Staff are ambitious for pupils' learning and behaviour.

Pupils strive to meet these expectations.

Pupils are proud to take on additional responsibilities such as 'friends against bullying' (FAB), peer mediators and house ...captains. Pupils contribute to the development of the school.

For example, they have added the quiet zone and 'playground shed' to offer calm spaces at playtime. Pupils have a strong sense of community and regularly set up charity fundraising events.

Pupils benefit from carefully designed enrichment activities, such as partnerships with local sports clubs and charities, which strengthen the curriculum.

Pupils' mental health is a priority. For example, the school council has worked with parents to create the 'mental health declaration'. Pupils extend their talents and interests by taking part in the additional activities on offer.

These include football, basketball, hip-hop, drama and choir.

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

Pupils learn an ambitious curriculum that aligns with what is expected nationally. Leaders have thought about the knowledge and skills they want pupils to learn over time.

From Nursery onwards, the important knowledge pupils need to learn has been identified and logically sequenced. This helps pupils to deepen their understanding in different subjects. For example, in mathematics, children in early years build vocabulary to talk about numbers, shapes and measurements.

This helps them as they progress through the school to explain their mathematical thinking with increasing precision. Similarly, in art, children in the Nursery practise drawing self-portraits. Pupils develop and refine this skill as they move through the school creating work of increasing accuracy.

Assessment is typically used well to check what pupils know and remember. However, there are occasions where this is done less consistently. In these instances, errors and misconceptions are not identified or corrected swiftly and can persist.

As a result, some pupils do not develop the depth of knowledge and understanding they should.

Leaders prioritise pupils' reading. This begins in the Nursery where children have access to high-quality texts and familiar stories that they enjoy listening to.

The teaching of phonics is effective. The books pupils read match the sounds they know. Staff quickly identify any pupils who are struggling.

Interventions ensure that these pupils catch up quickly. Reading is promoted throughout the school. For example, parents are encouraged to join the local library and help their children develop a love of reading.

Pupils talk with confidence and enthusiasm about their favourite books and authors.

The school places importance on pupils developing a rich vocabulary for speaking and writing across the curriculum. In early years, the vocabulary leaders want children to secure has been identified throughout the different areas of learning.

However, vocabulary and sentence structure are not modelled with consistent accuracy. This means that some children do not routinely hear precise language or have the opportunity to build their vocabulary.

The school is ambitious for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders are well trained and ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to support all pupils. As a result, tasks and activities are meaningfully adapted so that pupils are well supported to access the same curriculum as their peers.

The new policy has helped to secure a shared and consistent approach for managing behaviour.

Pupils behave well in lessons, share resources and listen to each other. This begins in early years where, for example, children learn to take turns. Pupils are typically calm when they move around the school.

In the playground, pupils engage well together. Leaders have appropriate systems in place to ensure pupils attend school regularly.

Pupils' wider personal development is exceptional.

There is a significant focus on developing pupils as responsible and respectful citizens who challenge discrimination such as gender stereotypes. Pupils are encouraged to question and challenge key issues locally and globally such as waste. Pupils take action on such issues such as giving unused fruit to families on 'fruity Friday' or recycling old school uniforms.

Professionals from the community work with pupils to explore their aspirations for the future. The curriculum is designed to help pupils learn about the importance of a healthy diet and physical exercise and how this can lead to better mental health.

Leaders, including those responsible for governance, understand the school's strengths and priorities for improvement.

Staff are well supported by leaders and each other. They appreciate leaders' consideration of their workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasion, pupils' understanding is not checked carefully. As a result, errors or misconceptions in pupils' learning are sometimes not identified or addressed swiftly. The school needs to ensure that assessment is used consistently to check that pupils remember the knowledge, skills and vocabulary needed to tackle more complex ideas.

• Sometimes in early years, language is not modelled or extended with sufficient accuracy or precision. This means children do not hear or have the opportunity to practise speaking using the right language structures. The school should ensure that appropriate training is provided so that language use is maximised and modelled throughout the early years provision.