St Andrew’s CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, Totteridge

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Andrew's CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School, Totteridge continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils come to school every morning happy and eager to learn. Their teachers are kind and nurturing.

Staff have high expectations of behaviour, both in and out of lessons. Many parents said this feels like a very close village school.Pupils said that bullying does not happen in their school.

Staff quickly deal with any name calling or silliness between pupils. Pupils' behaviour is of a high standard. They are polite and respectful to each other in lessons and playtimes.

Leaders are ambitious. They want the best outcomes for their pupils.... Leaders ensure that staff are well trained to help pupils learn.

All staff share leaders' high expectations of what pupils learn and can achieve. The school's consistent approach to teaching helps pupils achieve well.Leaders ensure pastoral care and the school's core values are at the heart of everything they do.

They equally ensure that pupils learn about other cultures and religions. Pupils take part in a wide range of activities, both in and out of school. They love making visits to places of interest linked to their learning.

Year 2 and Year 4 pupils enjoy talking about their recent visits to the Museum of London and St. Paul's Cathedral.

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

Leaders and staff have worked closely together to revise the curriculum.

In all subjects, they have mapped out what they intend pupils to learn and in what order. The computing curriculum, for example, has been planned well. Pupils know what they are learning, and lessons build on their previous learning.

For example, pupils in Year 3 learn how to design branching databases. In Year 4, they learn how to find information from age-appropriate search engines. In Year 5 lessons build on this learning and pupils design their own school apps using graphics and mapping programmes.

This all starts in the Reception year, where children first learn to use technology to record their work.Leaders are always looking at ways to improve the curriculum and provide necessary staff training. They are reflective and make adaptions where needed.

Pupils love learning. They produce high quality pieces of art, and can discuss artists by name and style. For example, in Year 2 after a series of lessons on the Impressionists, pupils produced paintings of cityscapes and landscapes.

Pupils in Year 6 could identify the artists who inspired this work, such as Monet and Van Gogh.Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have equal access to the full cur-riculum and work alongside their peers. They are well supported in their learning.

Teach-ers check what pupils know, to identify misconceptions and inform what should be taught next. However, questioning and discussion with pupils is not used routinely to help pupils remember more about what they are learning.Staff in the early years provide a caring and well-planned environment for children.

Chil-dren play well together. Opportunities for early mathematics and language work are plen-tiful. Children in the early years are encouraged to develop their language through songs and rhymes.

Children learn to count numbers up to 10 and know the names of a range of shapes. This lays the foundation for learning in mathematics. For example, pupils in Year 3 learn about simple fractions.

In Year 6, a lesson on pie charts allowed pupils to apply their skills in measuring, problem-solving and calculation. Pupils achieve highly in mathe-matics.Reading is a high priority right from the start.

The school recently introduced a new scheme for teaching phonics. In Reception, children begin learning about letters and sounds. Children are taught to read through a sequenced phonics programme.

Teachers carefully choose the books that children read, ensuring that these are closely matched to the sounds that they know. Most children make good progress. However, some children who struggle with learning initial reading skills are not making the progress they need to become secure and fluent readers.

Pupils all say they enjoy using the school library and reading books together. Most older pupils in Year 6 are confident, fluent readers, who demonstrate a real love of reading.Leaders provide many opportunities to foster pupils' wider personal development, including through carefully planned educational visits.

Behaviour of the pupils is a strength of this school.Staff love to work in this school. They feel well supported by leaders.

They value the steps that leaders have taken to manage workload and well-being. Governors are well informed and ambitious for the future of this school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils learn about potential dangers inside and outside their school. They know how to stay safe when travelling between home and school. Computing lessons teach them how to stay safe when online.

Leaders work closely with local safeguarding agencies and external partners. They are quick to offer support when needed. Where appropriate, leaders make prompt referrals to support vulnerable pupils.

Leaders provide staff with regular training on safeguarding to ensure that they understand their responsibilities. All staff are vigilant in keeping pupils safe.Staff carry out all the statutory pre-employment checks on visitors and people who work in the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have introduced a new scheme for the systematic teaching of phonics. The books used in lessons are well matched to the phonics that pupils are learning. However, some pupils who struggle to identify initial letters and sounds are not making the progress they need.

This does not help pupils to build their early reading skills. Leaders need to review staff training, interventions and support provided in the teaching of phonics. ? Sometimes, assessments and questions do not help pupils recall prior learning.

Where this is the case pupils find it difficult to connect their past learning with what they are currently studying in class. Leaders must make sure that teachers regularly discuss learning with pupils and use pupil voice, so that they are able to know more and remember more.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2017.

How can I feedback my views?

You can use Ofsted Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school, or to find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted.

Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route.

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