Twickenham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Twickenham Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 27 September 2016, 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 your predecessor school was judged to be good in November 2009. This school continues to be good.

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school's motto, created by pupils, of 'Be all you can be' sets the tone for the high aspirations firmly embedded at Twickenham Primary. You and your staff are dedicated to ensuring that you provide the very best support and c...are to pupils.

With consistently good teaching and positive relationships, pupils achieve well and thrive in the nurturing and safe haven you provide. Since the school converted to academy status in January 2014, you have built further on the school's strengths. You have continued to improve the quality of teaching across the school and raise achievement for all pupils.

A strong emphasis is placed on continuing teachers' professional development. Leaders provide good-quality training and support for all staff, including those who are new to teaching, to ensure they have the skills and knowledge needed to carry out their roles effectively. You and members of your leadership team work in collaboration with other local schools to share good practice and extend your ideas.

Other leaders also undertake action research projects to deepen their understanding. You have successfully tackled one of the two areas identified as needing improvement for the predecessor school. The curriculum in the early years is much improved.

Children make good progress from their starting points and the proportion reaching a good level of development is now in line with the national average in all areas. However, you agree that work is not consistently well matched to the most able pupils when they are taught in different ability sets in mathematics. Safeguarding is effective.

You have created an inclusive and safe environment for pupils. You have ensured that safeguarding is a collective responsibility within the school. It is of paramount importance to you and your staff that pupils feel safe and are fully protected from potential harm and dangers.

As a result, you and your senior leadership team are all trained to the highest level. Staff members receive regular updates and training to make sure they know what action to take if they are worried about a pupil. As the designated leader for safeguarding, you work effectively and efficiently alongside the pastoral manager.

Together, you ensure that swift referrals are made to appropriate authorities when incidents are raised and detailed records are kept and stored securely. All safer recruitment checks are robustly carried out. Pupils feel very safe in school.

Assemblies, lessons and visiting speakers are all used effectively to teach pupils to keep themselves safe. Pupils have a good understanding of different types of bullying, especially cyber bullying, but feel this isn't an issue at Twickenham. As one pupil put it, 'We don't tolerate bullying here.'

Pupils are confident that if they report any incidents or concerns to staff, they will be quickly dealt with. Inspection findings You have continued to ensure that pupils receive good-quality teaching. You and your leadership team analyse assessment information thoroughly and check pupils' work regularly to detect any weaknesses which need addressing.

Swift action is taken and appropriate support put in place. Additional teaching or short-term interventions are provided to help pupils who are in danger of falling behind. This effective practice ensures that all pupils achieve well.

Pupils make good progress in all year groups. From entry levels which are below those typically expected in the early years, children build successfully on their early skills and the large majority reach standards which are expected for their age. These firm foundations are now having a positive impact on standards in other year groups.

For example, outcomes have risen consistently in the Year 1 phonics check and are now above average. Provisional results for key stage 1 in 2016 show that most pupils reached the level required in reading, writing and mathematics, with approximately a fifth exceeding the standards set in reading and mathematics. Due to the good teaching and consistent progress that pupils make as they move through the school, outcomes at the end of key stage 2 over time have been above average.

As a result, pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education. Unvalidated results for 2016 show that achievement in reading and writing was similar to, or better than, other pupils nationally, but attainment and progress in mathematics was not as strong. You have already begun to review and evaluate how mathematics is taught in key stage 2 and have set problem-solving as a key priority within the school improvement plan.

Almost three quarters of pupils are disadvantaged within the school. You make excellent use of the pupil premium to support learning and ensure that pupils achieve as well as others in the school. Over time, disadvantaged pupils have consistently made good progress and attained above all pupils nationally.

Their needs are carefully considered and well met. For example, full-time places are provided for children in the Nursery together with one-to-one tuition in literacy and mathematics for pupils who are struggling. Pupils' personal development and well-being are also targeted.

The pastoral manager is employed to ensure that vulnerable pupils and their families receive any additional support needed. You provide a free breakfast club, school uniforms and subsidise school trips to ensure that pupils are treated equally and are fully included in school life. Nurture club also provides good-quality support for pupils who need to develop their social skills.

One enjoyable session observed during this inspection, for example, was of a small group of pupils making an imaginary 'values soup' and discussing the 'gallon of respect' which needed to go in together with the 'three spoonfuls of taking turns'. As a result, pupils are gaining in confidence and their behaviour is improving. You have identified pupils who are the most able, including those who are disadvantaged and most able.

This latter group, known as 'hash tag threes' receive additional teaching and support within lessons. Year 6 pupils, for instance, are grouped in ability sets for mathematics. Two teachers work with the most able set and '#threes'.

However, work is not sufficiently well differentiated or challenging enough to ensure that these pupils achieve as well as they could. Learning objectives set are often similar to those provided for pupils in the other sets and too little attention is given to encouraging pupils to use higher order skills, such as approximating answers, or applying problem-solving and reasoning skills to develop mastery in mathematics. You are keen to develop these elements, not just in Year 6 but across key stage 2.

Your teaching staff plan exciting and varied activities to promote and develop pupils' writing. Teachers explain and demonstrate what pupils are going to learn in literacy lessons well. They provide pupils with helpful opportunities to discuss and plan their work.

Note-taking skills and pupils' drafting of their ideas help them to organise their thoughts before beginning to write. On occasion, teachers do not challenge the most able well enough in key stage 1 by encouraging them to write at greater length or use more complex punctuation in their work. This limits the progress that these pupils make.

Other pupils in key stage 1 have not mastered familiar spelling patterns in writing or are not able to form their letters properly in order to develop a neat and cursive handwriting style. Weak spelling and handwriting therefore reduces the quality of their work. Again, you and your leaders have identified these areas.

You have introduced a new handwriting scheme and set pupils homework to practise writing and spelling essential words, for example the days of the week and months of the year. It is too early at this stage to see the impact of this work. The strong focus you place on reading and teaching phonics systematically is paying dividends.

Pupils acquire good early reading skills and are able to blend sounds and decode unfamiliar words. Your imaginative method of naming each class after an author, for example, Dickens, Walliams or Wilson, has helped raise the profile of reading. Pupils enjoy reading, read regularly and are developing good reading habits.

Even those at the early stages acquire a love of books because their reading books are carefully selected to match their interests; for example, pupils who read to me hugely enjoyed turning the pages and telling me the pirate story using the pictures as prompts. You believe passionately that the school curriculum should provide pupils with a wide variety of life experiences. To this end, you have developed an interesting and diverse curriculum.

All classes go on school trips to extend and enrich interesting topic work. Opportunities to work outdoors, learn a musical instrument, play different sports and attend after-school clubs ensure there is something to suit everyone. Motivational speakers and athletes are also invited into school to inspire and encourage pupils to do their best.

Pupils were very keen to talk about learning 'blind football'. All of these activities help to provide variety and enjoyment in the curriculum and add to pupils' enjoyment of school. Governors know the school well.

They are clear where strengths and weaknesses exist. They meet with members of the leadership team to discuss ongoing developments and are not afraid to ask questions to challenge the information they receive. Where complaints are received, governors are objective and impartial in their investigations.

They ensure that complaints are taken seriously and dealt with efficiently and effectively. Parents have very positive views of the school. They say their children are happy, safe and taught well.

They feel that the leadership team are approachable and those new to the area commented on how quickly their children had settled in. You have created a strong and united staff team; staff views are extremely positive. This is because you invest in staff development and place pupils' well-being at the heart of the school's work.

Staff are extremely committed to the school and work well together. As one staff member put it, 'Children and staff feel valued and both have a voice.' Pupils behave well in and around school.

They enjoy the 'link points' awarded for good work and behaviour which result in rewards such as playing basketball at playtime. They are polite and show good levels of respect to adults and each other. You have ensured that pupils have a very good knowledge of British values and that they learn about cultures and beliefs different to their own.

They enjoy taking responsibility and having a say in school life, for example through democratically voting for the head boy, head girl and school council members. Pupils enjoy school and are extremely proud to attend Twickenham Primary. The opportunities they are afforded prepare them well for their future lives.

Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that teachers: raise the level of challenge provided for the most able pupils so that a greater proportion exceed the standards expected develop pupils' reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics in key stage 2 improve pupils' spelling strategies and handwriting style in key stage 1. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Birmingham. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

Yours sincerely Heather Simpson Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection Lines of enquiry pursued during this inspection focused on the quality of safeguarding procedures; ongoing achievement of pupils, especially the most able and disadvantaged pupils; the breadth and balance of the curriculum; the effectiveness of leadership, including governance; and how complaints received are dealt with. During this inspection, I met with you, members of your leadership team and three members of the governing body. I discussed the work of the school with you and together we carried out some short observations of teaching in Years 2 and 6.

During these visits I looked at pupils' work, including from last year, and spoke to pupils about their learning. I also met with pupils at lunchtime to gather their views of the school. I observed pupils' behaviour at playtime as well as in lessons.

I heard a sample of pupils from Year 1 and Year 2 read. Additional information was provided through discussions with school governors. I looked at a range of school documents including the checks on the suitability of staff to work with children and the school's information about pupils' progress, attainment and attendance.

I also reviewed the school's own evaluation of its work, together with the school improvement plan. There were too few responses to Ofsted's online questionnaire Parent View to consider, but account was taken of the school's own parent survey and parents' views were gathered as they collected their children from school. Staff questionnaires were returned by 39 staff and their views considered.