Wohl Ilford Jewish Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school whose strong partnerships with parents and carers and the community contribute to its warm and positive family ethos.

The school has embraced the changing nature of its intake, warmly welcoming pupils from many different ethnicities over the last 18 months, many of whom are in the early stages of learning to speak English as an additional language. Pupils are well known as individuals and are nurtured carefully throughout their time at school. They grow into confident young learners who respect one another's views and opinions.

Pupils' good behaviour has a positive impact on their learning. They are well motivated and enjoy coming to school, as their active participation... in lessons shows. They feel safe and well cared for.

Parents and carers value all the support the school offers. One, echoing the views of many, wrote, 'The school is a nurturing environment for my children. They have thrived and progressed excellently.'

Achievement is good in Key Stages 1 and 2. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities also achieve well. Those who speak English as an additional language are well supported and take a full part in lessons, often being encouraged to respond to questions in their home languages.

Progress in writing, while satisfactory, is not as good as in reading and mathematics and the school has rightly identified this as an area for improvement. A wide range of initiatives has been introduced to improve spelling and handwriting for example, and these are beginning to show a positive impact. Teaching is generally good, with teachers providing stimulating and relevant material that engages pupils' interest and increases their motivation.

However, there is sometimes a lack of clarity about exactly what pupils are expected to learn during writing lessons and this hinders their involvement in and understanding of their learning. Teaching assistants often have a very good impact on pupils' progress but occasionally their effectiveness is restricted by the lack of clearly defined goals for pupils' learning. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage make satisfactory progress.

They enjoy coming to school and quickly develop good relationships with adults and other children. Progress is tracked carefully but the information is not always used to plan activities that closely meet their individual needs and abilities. Sometimes the activities are not planned well enough to maintain children's interest and extend their learning, particularly in the Reception classes and in the pre-school.

Additional adults provide good support in the Nursery, but in Reception and the pre-school, they do not always challenge children enough to extend their learning. The headteacher is extremely well respected and valued throughout the school community. She drives the school's work rigorously yet sensitively, ensuring that plans clearly focus on improving pupils' achievement.

Consequently, there is a strong feeling of teamwork through the school and a clear commitment towards improvement. Rigorous monitoring procedures and a commitment to self-evaluation mean that senior leaders have an accurate view of the school's performance. Middle managers are taking an increasingly active role in monitoring although are not yet analysing the results of tests and assessments to see where pupils might do better.

Improvement since the last inspection has been good, with pupils' attainment rising and the school successfully meeting the needs of its new pupils who speak English as an additional language. The school has a good capacity for further improvement.

Information about the school

This average-sized primary school serves pupils from many different backgrounds.

Pupils travel from a wide area to attend. Approximately two-thirds of pupils come from Jewish families and most other faiths are represented in smaller numbers. These proportions have changed significantly since the last inspection when the vast majority were from Jewish families.

An average and increasing proportion of pupils in the school speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is average although it is growing rapidly. The proportion identified with special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average although proportions vary considerably between year groups.

Many of those identified have speech, communication and language difficulties. There have been several changes in the senior management team since the last inspection, with the recent appointment of a new deputy headteacher and Early Years Foundation Stage coordinator. The school has won a number of national awards in recent years, including Healthy Schools status and the Bronze Travel Award.

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