Stroud Green Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Stroud Green Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a school where pupils are safe, happy and well cared for. When pupils join the school, they settle in quickly and soon make great friends. The school's inclusive ethos helps everyone to feel welcome.

Staff have high expectations of all pupils. Teachers and support staff work together as a team to get the best from each and every pupil.

When asked, pupils listed dozens of things they love about their school.

They especially like the way that everyone is valued for who they are. Pupils know that their opinions are taken seriously. Pupils enjoy swapping books at ...the 'little lending library' in the playground.

They are looking forward to the grand opening of the school's farm and welcoming the new chickens.

Pupils behave well in lessons. They conduct themselves sensibly around the school because they know that this keeps everyone safe.

Leaders deal with incidents, including any bullying, swiftly and effectively. Pupils know that staff help them to sort out any problems. Olive, the therapy dog, plays her part in helping pupils to calm down when they feel anxious.

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly pleased with all aspects of the school's work. Everyone agrees that the school is a great place to be. They are 'proud to be Stroud'.

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

The early years provision is settled and calm. Children quickly get to grips with the daily routines and respond well to their teachers' high expectations. Reading is prioritised right from the start.

Staff are well trained to teach pupils to read using phonics. They know how to make sure that reading books match each pupil's place in the school's phonics programme. Pupils' phonics knowledge builds securely over time.

They learn to read fluently and accurately. Pupils enjoyed talking about their favourite authors and were particularly proud of a world-famous author visiting their school.

Leaders are ambitious for pupils' learning and achievement.

They have worked out what pupils need to learn in each subject. Pupils learn things in a sensible order. This allows them to build on what they have been taught previously.

For example, pupils in Year 4 used their knowledge of place value and ordering to work out different intervals on a number line. Pupils in Year 5 used what they had learned about time and partitioning to answer questions involving roman numerals.

Leaders have planned what pupils need to learn.

However, in a few subjects, it is not always clear exactly what they want pupils to know and remember in the long term. This means that the most important knowledge in each topic could be overlooked. In some instances, pupils struggle to remember the subject content they have been taught.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities follow the same curriculum as everyone else. Leaders make sure that these pupils get the right support to achieve well and reach their goals. Leaders also ensure that teachers have specialist support to help meet pupils' speech and language needs.

Pupils said that they like having the chance to go over key words with a teaching assistant before the lesson because it helps them to get a head start and do well.

Teachers check pupils' learning in lessons and sort out any misconceptions. They present new information clearly to pupils so that they understand what is being taught.

For example, pupils in Year 3 liked having more time to understand the meaning of the words 'monsoon' and 'glacier' because they had not seen these before. Pupils in Year 1 responded well when their teacher used real-life chairs in the classroom to represent a number problem. Staff make the most of opportunities to develop pupils' spoken language.

For example, pupils are encouraged to rephrase their answers in complete sentences and use ambitious subject vocabulary.

Leaders check how well pupils are doing in each subject. The use of assessment is well embedded in mathematics and English.

Leaders are refining what happens in the other subjects. This is because, sometimes, their checks on pupils' learning do not look at what pupils know and remember.

Pupils respond to teachers' high expectations.

They enjoy learning and behave well. Leaders provide a range of activities and experiences, including clubs, visits and visitors to the school, which aim to enrich pupils' wider development. Older pupils know the meaning of democracy and said that they get to have a say in what happens in school.

Pupils rise to the challenges of different jobs, such as litter picking. Pupils take their roles seriously. The 'anti-bullying ambassadors' are shining examples of this.

Staff are highly positive about working here. They said that leaders' decisions always take their workload into consideration. Teachers who are new to their careers are particularly well supported.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils know that one of the school's values is about being safe and they understand why it is important. Pupils learn, in an age-appropriate way, how to keep themselves safe in a wide range of situations.

These include online safety, healthy relationships and the dangers of gang affiliation and carrying knives.

Leaders carry out the required vetting checks to ensure the suitability of all adults who work in the school. Leaders make sure that staff know and follow the school's procedures if they are concerned that a pupil might be at risk.

The school's pastoral team, including leaders responsible for safeguarding, works closely with a range of services to support pupils and their families, particularly those who are vulnerable.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some of the foundation subjects, there is a lack of clarity about the specific knowledge pupils need to acquire as they study each topic. This makes it difficult to check what pupils know and remember as they move through the school.

Leaders should refine curriculum plans in these subjects so that teachers and pupils are clear about the most important subject content pupils need to remember. Leaders should develop further the use of assessment in these subjects to help teachers to check what pupils know, remember and can do.

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

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

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2013.